


Invitus Amicis

by gatekat, Verilidaine



Category: Transformers Generation One
Genre: Angst, Betrayal, Defection, Forced Bonding, Forced Gestalt Bonding, M/M, Mass Death, Murder, Sticky Sexual Interfacing, Suicide, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-12
Updated: 2015-03-18
Packaged: 2018-03-17 14:33:11
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 10
Words: 49,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3532916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gatekat/pseuds/gatekat, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Verilidaine/pseuds/Verilidaine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When the Decepticons kidnap Prowl and forced bond him into a gestalt with Starscream and Soundwave, it doesn't exactly work out the way most figured it would.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Plan of Control

**Author's Note:**

> Check the end if you want to know who dies.

Megatron strode into laboratory/detention facility built especially for this plan deep inside Darkmount. It was Shockwave's, and the warlord had to admit that the mech he had entrusted to keep Cybertron in his absence was worthy of that trust. The mech could _plan_ , and carry out that plan. So unlike the Seeker that lay in stasis on one of the medberths in the highly secured but plush and large cell with as many cameras and viewing ports as anywhere Megatron had seen.

"Welcome, Lord Megatron," Shockwave bowed to him before returning to his monitoring equipment. "We are ready to begin at your pleasure."

"Excellent," he swept his gaze over the contents of the cell. There was a large, plush-looking square berth large enough for all three against one wall with blankets and pillows arranged neatly on. Against the far wall was an open washrack of officer quality, again large enough for all three and then some to use at once. The third wall and the space in front of it was taken up by a couch for three and an entertainment center. Along the fourth wall were four long shelves. Three full of datapads and bookfiles, the fourth was empty. In front of those with the couch on the far side were three medberths pressed together, one with a Praxian and the other with a Seeker.

"Lord Megatron: Soundwave: is prepared." The host greeted him.

"You have both done well so far," Megatron rumbled with pleasure.

"The medical berths will be removed when they are no longer necessary," Shockwave volunteered as Megatron's gaze drifted to the regular berth again.

"Primus willing, that should take very little time," Megatron said with a nod. He knew all about how these kinds of things worked, and very soon, as his plan began to solidify and his vision was revealed, that berth would see steady use. "Are you looking forward to your new assignment, Soundwave?" he asked. 

The question seemed to startle the host, and it was one of the few times Megatron had ever witnessed him pause before responding.

"Soundwave: understands the necessity."

"The Decepticon cause will remember both your designation and sacrifice," Megatron told his most trusted and loyal officer. "You perform a great deed today." 

"Soundwave: grateful for Lord Megatron's thanks. Soundwave: will bring both subjects to heel."

"I have every faith in you. Everything is ready?" Megatron asked unnecessarily.

"Yes, Lord Megatron. All is ready. As soon as Soundwave indicates the bonds are stable, we will upload the coding into all three and activate it."

"Then begin," Megatron nodded. At that, Soundwave left the control room and disappeared from view for a moment before they watched him enter the lavish, spacious, decidedly-not-cell-like cell and walk over to the side of the three pressed-together medberths where Prowl was laying. It took several long kliks of the host straddling the Praxian carefully before Prowl's armor began to fold away under the demands of the medberth he was hooked up to.

Shockwave prattled on endlessly next to him about medical override codes and hacking technicalities, but Megatron blocked him out in order to better focus on the scene unfolding in front of him. 

At first, he'd thought that Soundwave had turned on a light to peer inside Prowl's chest somehow, until he realized that the bright light was coming from Prowl's spark. It looked white, and only the Praxian's own brilliant white armor betrayed the ice blue tint. Against any other backdrop, Megatron might not have noticed it. 

Nearly pure, nearly a priest's white. In fact, Megatron was sure there had been priests with taints darker than this one. His engines rumbled hotly, half gleeful, half disgusted. 

Was that why Prime kept this one so close? Color bias? Megatron would take great joy in reducing the Praxian to his servant. 

With a grin he watched as Soundwave's dark violet spark reached out for the white one that instinctively reached back. "Do you know if anything like this has been tried before?" he asked, gesturing to his TIC, who was oblivious to anything outside the merge with Prowl. "Attempting to bond through stasis."

"It has been successful on several documented occasions, my Lord. It takes a strong will and spark to do so, just as it does when the unwilling party is aware," Shockwave explained. "The success rate when the unwilling one is unaware is higher."

"I have no doubt that Soundwave will be able to overcome them both," Megatron rumbled with pleasure.

"Agreed, Lord Megatron," Shockwave watched as the host came out of the merge with Prowl, blatantly dazed and unsettled by the merge as he sat on the berth for several kliks to orient himself from the overload and new bond in his spark.

"Soundwave, my most trusted soldier," Megatron said when the host finally looked up. "How did the process go with Prowl?"

"Bonding: successful. Proceed: to Starscream?" Soundwave responded as he reached for the cube of energon left by the berth for him, warmed to the core by his master's words.

" _Yes,_ " Megatron said with a gleeful rattle of his intakes. 

"Starscream will undoubtedly be very displeased," Shockwave said smugly.

"All the better," Megatron actually purred as they watched Soundwave move to the prone Seeker on the other side of the room and use a medical override from the berth hookup to unlock and open his chest plates. The golden glass of the cockpit slid down, the inner armor folded to the side and away, baring the rich golden spark to Soundwave's seeking dark violet one.

There was a sharp, bright flare of light as they merged together, and then Soundwave grew still and the sparks evened into a single, steady glow that came from between the pressed frames. Hardened as he was, even Megatron felt a little like an intruder watching a merge to bond. He never expected the sensation, but he'd clearly been indoctrinated with the idea that such a union was sacred or private and he was not one to witness it.

It drew a deep, angry rumble from his powerful tank engine, which made Shockwave glance at him. Megatron waved it off. It was nothing.

This merge lasted nearly as long as Prowl's had, and by the end, Megatron was growing anxious. Starscream was a threat he could no longer ignore, an irritant that needed brought to heel. His own methods of dealing with the matter had been, despite all his efforts, ineffective. 

He wanted his Air Commander tamed, and unifying his erratic, violent nature with the calm of the Praxian would even them both out into a splendid fighting force for his army. Starscream's passion would bring life to Prowl's dull strategy, and Prowl's steady nature would calm the seeker long enough for their plans to pan out. 

It would be the perfect union, with Soundwave leading them both.

Finally the merge with Starscream ended and Soundwave lifted himself up, far more shakily than he had with Prowl. It was almost a full breem before the host felt stable enough to reach for the energon and he still swayed slightly as he sat on the edge of the medberth to drink it.

"Well?" Megatron asked eagerly, as soon as the host looked steady. "Have you done it? Are the bonds stable?" 

Soundwave looked directly at the hidden viewing port. "Affirmative, Lord Megatron. Bonds: stable."

"Excellent, Soundwave," Megatron praised. "My plan will not fail. Shockwave! Begin the upload process!"

"As you command, Lord Megatron," the scientist responded by reflex, then focused on the room where Soundwave was laying down and hooking himself into the third medberth between his new bondmates. As the host powered down into stasis, Shockwave worked quickly to initiate and then monitor the gestalt-creation process. "This phase will take a minimum of six joors, my Lord."

"Remain here and supervise," Megatron told him, already bored. "Alert me when they are ready to wake." 

"Yes, my Lord," Shockwave said, and turned back to his work.


	2. Waking to a Nightmare

Prowl's first awareness was that everything was _wrong_. His spark felt off-rhythm. His processors were sluggish, even for only being half-booted up. Notices of many repairs scrolled by, but it was the additions that caught his attention.

Coding additions.

Even Prowl could work out what it meant from the file designations.

Gestalt.

He was now with gestalt coding, and it was fully active.

 _All is well_ came as more of a sensation than actual glyphs. Soothing, steady, calm, authority. Without thinking about it, Prowl complied as the rest of his systems booted up and he continued to poke at the new coding.

It was only when everything was on line and his tac-net gave him the report to read that it registered that the coding was the least of what had been changed.

He read it, and read it again, and could not bring himself to comprehend what it said.

Spark bonded.

While he'd been unconscious someone had forced a spark bond on him.

He couldn't even be revolted. That required comprehending what had happened, acknowledging it. That was past where Prowl was stuck.

He could barely comprehend how, much less _why_ , and hadn't even begun to move onto _who._

"Prowl: will consume his energon now," a familiar voice said.

He powered his optics on to stare at Soundwave, and managed to drag his attention away from the loop enough to teek the _care_ in the enemy's field. With a shudder he felt himself entering his glitch-loop, and without Red Alert to help, he knew he'd be fully consumed by it soon.

Someone was in his processors, a presence that Prowl was no longer capable of putting designation to, but it carefully pulled away strand after strand of the loop away until Prowl could think again. It still wasn't easy, it hurt, but the crash was averted more gently than ever before. The previous klik became a blur and he cycled into a gentle reboot. 

"Prowl: will consume his energon now," that same voice said when he was aware again.

Optics still off, processor aching and spark off-balance, Prowl obeyed and reached for the cube he could feel nearby.

Warm hands pressed it into his own, and the mech there remained close. There was a strange feeling of openness in his spark, and through it pulsed a steady, reassuring thrumming. 

When he had finished the cube, it was taken away from him so that his hands could rest. His frame was sore all over, and he still didn't _understand._

 _Safe,_ that same sense in his spark pressed forward, and as weary and wary as he was, Prowl pressed towards it, seeking to put firm designation to the state he could not make himself believe.

The designation that finally came back to him matched the face he'd seen, and his spark reeled with protest. 

_Soundwave?_

~You are _safe,_ ~ that strange presence in his spark insisted again and this time it was clear glyphs.

~Prisoner,~ Prowl corrected. ~Spark-raped, bonded unwillingly and gestalt. Your definition of 'safe' is strange even for a Decepticon.~

~You will come to no harm,~ Soundwave said. ~That is the definition of safe.~

Prowl grumbled but couldn't come up with a rebuttal. ~Why?~

~For Lord Megatron's glory,~ Soundwave said. ~You are one of us, now. We are _gestalt._ "~

~Or you are an Autobot, as we are gestalt,~ Prowl pointed out as he finally powered on his optics to look around. ~Same logic, and more likely. I'm more stubborn than you.~

~Lord Megatron has tasked me with bringing your abilities to use for the great Decepticon cause,~ Soundwave said. ~Soundwave will prevail.~

A tiny smile crossed Prowl's features that made him look rather deranged as he began to put some blocks on the bond, though all he managed was to dim it slightly. "We shall see, Soundwave. What is the screecher doing here?"

"Starscream: completes the gestalt," Soundwave said calmly, nothing about him betraying any kind of opinion over that reality.

Prowl raised an optic ridge at the host as his amusement bubbled up through the bond, though like Soundwave, none of it reached his frame. "Does he know that yet?"

"Negative," Soundwave said. "Prowl: is taking this well. The process: should be simple."

"Nothing with that Seeker is simple," Prowl actually snorted. "He's your version of Jazz, and even less sane."

Soundwave tilted his head. "Soundwave: refers to Prowl's conversion to a useful Decepticon soldier," he said.

"We will see about that. Including Starscream will complicate it, however," Prowl shrugged a doorwing. "When he is going to boot up?"

"Whenever I decide," Soundwave told him calmly. "Soundwave: will lead this gestalt."

"Only if you can," Prowl said as he slid off the medberth and stood, careful of his balance. "You have a long way to go to replace a Prime to my coding."

"Curious: how significant is Prowl's coding to Prowl's actions?" Soundwave asked.

Prowl glanced at him with an almost confused tint to his field. "I'm a Praxian Enforcer."

"That is understood," Soundwave said. "To what extent: does that occupation now still influence you?"

Prowl regarded him levelly for a long moment before he answered. "Ninety-three percent."

Soundwave's visor flashed bright for a moment. "That is ... significant," he finally said. "Gestalt coding: should begin the process of aligning your loyalty to me very soon."

"You assume you will become the gestalt leader," Prowl said a bit smugly. "At least my coding hasn't determined yet who is the leader, and if you look, yours doesn't either."

"Soundwave: has been chosen as leader by Lord Megatron," the host said calmly. "Soundwave: has control over the spark bonds." To prove his point, he pushed forward, breaking down the ineffective barriers that Prowl had placed.

The Praxian growled at him, doorwings flaring out as he lunged for the host, claws out and the intent to kill bright across his entire being.

Soundwave flinched but held steady in a solid defense, bringing his arms up to stop the claws. "Prowl: desist!" he shouted as he took the impact of the lighter but still strong frame and the far more painful impact of Prowl's field and the _sick-hate-hurting_ that roiled in it.

It didn't create any reaction as Prowl twisted, slipped one wrist free of Soundwave's grip and slashed across the top of the host's chest. That did create a moment of surprise that only generated more fury. 

Soundwave slammed the heel of his palm forward, striking the center of Prowl's chevron while bringing a knee up to slam into his middle. The blows landed and the host felt a strangely familiar reluctance when the damage was visible, but it didn't stop him from trying for another hit, dropping Prowl much as he had in real battle. This time, however, he knew it was so easy in part because Prowl was already off-balance and unfamiliar with the effects of both coding and bond, and in part because it was a reflex rather than a plan that prompted the assault.

He stepped back, arms lifted in defense. "Fighting: is ineffective and counterproductive," he told the Praxian, who was still crumpled on the floor with the intense stillness of one who's gyros and processor were not able to coordinate his frame.

"You attacked first," Prowl managed to get out as he wavered where he knelt. "Don't trust you," came out pained, stressed.

Soundwave sighed and knelt down, feeling inappropriately drawn by the Praxian's injuries. "This process: will go faster if Prowl accepts the situation. Our past lives: are gone." 

"Good luck with that," Prowl's voice steadied as he finished rerouting the signals disrupted by the damage. "Prime can't order it to break, you never will."

"The gestalt coding: will soften your resistance," Soundwave told him. "Once we are gestalt: the war can be ended for the glory of Lord Megatron. Prowl: will see." 

Ice blue optics dimmed with a flare of grief that didn't feel at all right to Soundwave, but it was gone before the host could determine anything more.

"Perhaps this war will end, but the war will never end while he lives," Prowl said quietly as he stood, confirmed that he was steady and walked to the berth. "Megatron has no ability to function during peace."

Soundwave sighed and let him go, watching as the Praxian folded his doorwings under his canopy, moved pillows about and eventually settled sitting up with his back against the wall and a pillow against his abdominals, held there by crossed arms. It was a pose Soundwave knew well from Rumble and Frenzy. They both did much the same thing when they were told they were safe but didn't feel so.

When ice blue optics turned off, he turned his attention over to Starscream. He was more worried about being trapped in here with the volatile Seeker, although after that display from Prowl, he was rethinking that position. 

Looking between the two, he decided that that was enough progress for one orn and moved to the far corner to dim his optics and sink into a meditative state. He could use some reconnecting with the cassettes, anyway. 

* * *

An unpleasant sound roused Soundwave from his meditation, a state he had been able to achieve only with some difficulty, and it took him several attempts to locate the source and cause. He'd zeroed in on Prowl immediately, but the mech's optics were on and looking around, so he'd moved on. Only on the third such sound was Soundwave looking at Prowl when it escaped the Praxian's vocalizer with a bright flash of unseeing optics and tightening cables.

So the Praxian wasn't online. 

That was when Soundwave became aware of the disquiet in his spark, coming across the bond. It was faint, not being pushed out, but Prowl was unhappy. 

That was no surprise. What _was_ a surprise was how much Soundwave wanted to go to him and draw him out of the memory purge that had morphed into a nightmare. 

What could have Prowl so upset?

He found himself standing and had taken a step towards Prowl before the thought finished and before he could make any conscious choice about it. He knew why too, as he halted himself. The gestalt code and the bond were both insisting he comfort his mate, even though he strongly disliked said mate. Even deeper than that, and the one argument he had a far more difficult time contradicting, was his design to _know_. Even when he'd been nothing but a lowly government comms mecha he'd been driven to _know_. As he rose in rank among the Decepticons that desire had become an imperative.

It had kept him close by Megatron's side all these centuries. To indulge, or not? As long as he knew the reasons _why_ he was indulging, it should be permissible. And Lord Megatron had tasked him with creating a functional gestalt, and part of that would be understand its members. One could not control what one did not understand.

Hesitantly, he moved close enough to see Prowl's thoughts. He was prepared for the emotions that pummeled him to a large extent. Anger, both inward and outward. Fear. Loss. Grief. Another surge of anger. All of them far deeper and richer than anyone, including Soundwave, had ever credited the mech as capable of.

A step closer and Soundwave sank into the distorted and jumbled memories. It barely took him that long to place what he was witnessing.

The assault on Praxus, but from a survivor's perspective. Only unlike most survivors, few as they were, this one was of rank in the defensive forces that had attempted to stop the destruction of the once-great city.

It took some willpower, but Soundwave managed to remain where he was, letting Prowl live through the memories without comfort. He tilted his head with a frown, trying to root out the source of the flashbacks. Was this where Prowl went when faced with any trauma, or was it simply a random occurrence during the mech's recharge cycle? It mattered as a way to control him, to earn the trust that even now Soundwave knew was paramount to completing his mission.

As he continued to watch, he experienced with Prowl the frantic effort to organize, to evacuate, to hold onto any ground and protect the monuments the city valued. He watched with an aching processor and unhappy spark the moment Prowl went from attempting to organize the resistance to organizing the evacuation, and spent far longer than was reasonable trying to understand the shift that happened only a few kliks later when thoughts of the citizenry and the city itself became a hazy background event and Prowl's full focus became downloading masses of data and collecting small objects. He was even ordering those under his command to do the same.

It wasn't what Soundwave expected of a ranking officer in a city that was not yet destroyed. Even by his own estimates, Praxus still had a chance at that point.

What had Prowl known that Soundwave didn't? What were Prowl and his agents doing?

Soundwave sighed and tilted his head as he watched the unhappy Praxian. More and more mysteries, when all he'd wanted was a basic loyalty-programmed strategist. 

Maybe Starscream _would_ be easier. At a minimum, Soundwave was intimately familiar with all the Seeker's quirks and motivations. The last four joors had proven quite effectively that as much as he knew about Prowl the Autobot tactician, he knew nothing about Prowl the mecha, and it was Prowl the mecha that he had had to turn.

Yet, how did one turn a mecha with 93% of their Enforcer coding intact, active and locked onto the enemy commander? What Soundwave did know of the code said it was brutally effective, and to be honest, he did not want to repeat whatever had turned Barricade from Praxian Enforcer into what he was now. That would certainly destroy most of Prowl's usefulness, if not all of it. Soundwave frowned. He was much less certain of this plan's worthiness now than he had been before. Prowl had been the key to the whole thing, Starscream was the extra body needed to level out the gestalt, and a bonus if he could be controlled. 

They had severely underestimated Prowl. Perhaps ... bringing Starscream into the equation would help to bring the gestalt bond into greater prominence, and Prowl under more control. He didn't have enough data to be sure, though even if he'd been certain of failure at the primary goal, it was entirely too late to change things.

The roar of _pain-hate-determination_ into Soundwave's awareness drew him back to Prowl's memory purge, and he saw what Prowl must have seen standing outside the ruined city. There were a handful of Enforcers and two that looked to be civilians around him. One by one, he accepted objects and datacores from each, and accepted the requests to be discharged. One at a time, he watched them gray without violence until only he stood on the rise and the rage was gone, settled into the grim determination that focused on the bright red mech that stood helm and shoulders above those working around him.

Prowl was calm, settled, but the purge no less dark as Prowl approached the new Prime and offered his service despite how dead he was inside.

So why _this_ Enforcer, out of all of them, to survive his city and pledge to the Autobots?

The memory purge gave no answers as it cycled to the beginning and the shocked terror there with a shudder of Prowl's frame.

An oft-repeated memory, it seemed. Soundwave forced himself to turn away rather than continue to fight the urge to intervene. It would not do to have the gestalt coding controlling him so fast. He needed to be at his top of his game. It wasn't easy, but Soundwave gave no outward indication that each step away from his new mate was a fight against himself until he sank back down to try and meditate until Prowl roused himself, or the mech needed energon, whichever came first.

Almost to Soundwave's surprise, Prowl roused himself first nine joors later. Despite the significant recharge, Soundwave was sure the mech had gotten little actual rest. Ice blue optics found Soundwave first, then moved to Starscream, and one doorwing twitched.

"He's still under." Prowl's statement was more of a question.

"Indeed," Soundwave intoned, following Prowl's gaze. "Soundwave: is not looking forward to that moment." Perhaps there was a common ground to be found here.

"I can't imagine anyone looking forward to being trapped in a room with him," Prowl answered dryly. "Any reason to delay the inevitable?"

"Negative," Soundwave said, and triggered Starscream to come online.

The bootup was a long, slow sequence, before finally the red optics began to brighten and the seeker groaned, lifting a hand up to his helm. "That's funny, I don't remember fragging Megatron off."

"You mean there's been a time you haven't?" Prowl's voice was somewhere between smug and bating from where he's moved to lean against the wall with his doorwings still folded away.

Starscream froze, then lurched up and scrambled back with a sharp hiss, his wings going high and rigid as they locked on Prowl. " _WHAT IS THAT DOING IN HERE?_ " he shrieked.

"Same thing you are," Prowl locked optics with the Seeker and motioned to Soundwave. "Megatron intends to have him control us both through gestalt coding and a spark bond."

Starscream looked at Soundwave, then back to Prowl, then around the confines of the massive cell. He found the door immediately and ran to it, slamming his fists forward. "MEGATRON! I know you're watching! Get me out of here! I refuse to be your piece in this game! This is lunacy, this is--!" He broke off suddenly, hand jerking up to his cockpit, before he whirled around and stared at Soundwave. " _What did you do?_ " 

"Soundwave: has sparkbonded with Starscream and Prowl," the host said calmly.

"When you calm down enough to check it, you'll notice the gestalt coding linking the three of us is active," Prowl added. "Soundwave believes he will be the leader because Megatron commanded it."

" _I_ will be leader," Starscream hissed immediately, then turned his focus up towards one of the many cameras. "MEGATRON! SHOW YOURSELF!" 

Prowl's tiny smile turned a bit more smug and downright dangerous, but when Soundwave edged close enough, his processors were level, calm enough and without a hint of plotting anything more than tormenting Starscream every chance he got.

But nothing happened, no warlord responded, not even a snicker from whoever was guarding them. Starscream snarled, before whirling on Soundwave. "You _raped_ me!" he accused. 

"Soundwave: did as ordered. Starscream: should have complied with Lord Megatron's wishes long ago."

"Don't you tell me what I should or should not have done you exhaust-sucking drone!" 

Soundwave looked at him mildly for a moment, then, "Lord Megatron: wishes to convey the following message to Starscream: 'It is not rape if you give it to everyone already.'"

Starscream's shriek was audial-piercing.

"He's much more fun with a mute button," Prowl observed quietly.

"Prowl: is not helping."

"Prowl: isn't trying to," he smirked at the host. "You I can almost respect. He's only good for trashing Megatron's plans on cue."

"You know _nothing,_ " Starscream snarled at him before plopping himself down on the floor in front of the door and crossing his arms over his cockpit. "I refuse to move from _this_ spot until I am released! I will not refuel until the gestalt coding is gone!" 

"This'll be fun," Prowl purred darkly, his optics glittering in anticipation. "It's been ages since I watched an enemy starve to deactivation."

"Megatron will come to his deranged senses before then," Starscream said, lifting his chin up. "I am _much_ too valuable of a mind to waste in here tied to you walking scrap piles."

"You mean too willing a valve, don't you?" Prowl replied as he stalked forward. "I have wondered what's so special about it that he keeps such a traitorous being around."

Starscream whirled and lunged forward, claws out, right towards Prowl with a furious shout.

"What happened to not moving?" Prowl chided as he rolled to his back so he could kick upwards and sent Starscream into the far wall as he finished the roll on his pedes.

The Seeker didn't answer, just pulled his arms out forward, and then a look of almost comical shock went across his face when he realized his null rays had been removed. It only served to enrage him further and he charged forward, this time ducking the blow and swiping at Prowl's pedes, trying to knock him off balance. It worked, but only succeeded in getting Starscream dragged to the ground with him, and suddenly the Seeker was under the grounder with no visible doorwings and his own very vulnerable to sharp claws he'd never realized Prowl had.

He cringed, turned his head away and froze, bracing himself for the mauling.

"Seriously?" Prowl snorted from above, disgust dancing through his field. "He really has conditioned you," he grumbled as he stood and stared down at the Seeker. "A SIC should have more pride that that."

Starscream seemed to need a moment to understand that he wasn't being attacked, before scrambled to his pedes and tossed his helm with as much dignity as he could scrape up. "A Seeker's wings come before his pride," he said stiffly, before returning to his spot in front of the door. "I wouldn't expect you to know anything about it, _ground-kisser._ "

"Duty before pride," Prowl responded, his tone strangely even. "Though you may not understand that, flitter," came out more normally.

Starscream tossed him a sneer but didn't answer. 

Soundwave waited a beat to be sure that the two were done before striding over to Starscream. "Starscream: will obey Soundwave and Lord Megatron now," he said. "This: should have been done long ago." 

"You can just try, Soundwave," Starscream told him. "Starscream obeys no one."

"Just as Prowl obeys only his lawful commanders," the Praxian added before going back to the large berth, but this time it was to sit on it more normally. As he turned, Soundwave saw just the edges of the doorwing panels peaking out from under his alt-mode hood. Prowl wasn't completely blinding himself to what was behind him, only protecting his largest physical vulnerability.

"Gestalt coding and time: will correct both of you," Soundwave said mildly as he settled into his corner to wait.


	3. Passing the Time

That day shifted to night, and the three remained where they were. Starscream at his post sulking by the door, Soundwave sitting calmly in his corner as far away from both his mates as he could manage and Prowl retained his claim on the ultra soft berth. The next orn brought drones in to remove the medberths, and the process resulted in Starscream being knocked unconscious when he attempted to leave as the door first opened.

Soundwave had to admit he was a bit surprised that Prowl made no apparent effort to escape, but the way the mech stared at the door and the activity, and the way he carefully stalked along the back wall to see as much of the outside as he could told the host that he was simply in the intel gathering stage of planning.

When the drones all left and the door was once more locked, Prowl returned to the berth and settled in again. Once Starscream woke, he too returned to his post, sulking by the door.

The second orn passed into the third, then the fourth, and on the evening of the fifth, as Soundwave offered Prowl a cube of energon as per a custom that developed out of nothing, Prowl's fingers lingered and his field had a calmer, yet more alive teek to it. The processors behind it were settled too, and thinking ... rather erotic thoughts. 

That shocked Soundwave. He honestly hadn't believed Prowl was all that interested in interfacing. His intel had revealed no partners, serious or no, and the Autobots certainly weren't ones to hide what happened in their berths, not even the notoriously private ones like Mirage. He reviewed what he knew of the images he picked up and realized that his intel wasn't wrong. The mech, or perhaps mecha, in Prowl's mind were Praxian Enforcers. They would have been gray by the time Prowl became an Autobot.

Soundwave tilted his helm to the side, a gesture that he used to make it obvious that he was reading a mech. "Prowl: finds this atmosphere conducive to such contemplation?" he inquired. 

"Boredom is conductive to it," Prowl gave a small shrug as he drank his energon. 

"Prowl: is a curious Autobot," Soundwave said, vaguely aware that they now had Starscream's attention. "Soundwave: enjoys his logical thinking methodology. Soundwave: had been prepared for panic."

"Panic is never useful," Prowl pointed out. "The tac-net ensures I never become that emotional."

"Soundwave: approves of this," the host said, then tilted his head the other way. "Prowl ... desires assistance?" 

Prowl regarded Soundwave for a long klik, not even trying to conceal what he was thinking. No, he didn't desire Soundwave's assistance. He didn't desire Starscream's either. He didn't desire to be in a situation where it was even an option to contemplate. But would he take it since it had been offered?

Prowl very purposefully put an image in the top of his mind of Soundwave under him, taking his spike.

 _Disgust_ flared through the host's field and he quickly took a step back. _That_ was not something he wanted to do with an Autobot. Not ever. 

But ... he _had_ offered to assist, and he _was_ tasked with making Prowl loyal. Would that make Prowl loyal? 

"Af...firmative," he said with great hesitation. 

" _What_ are you babbling about?" Starscream snapped.

Prowl simply shook his helm, image-thoughts of rape and that it was a high crime for his caste flickering up in an effort to make Soundwave understand the refusal. "Is it the position you don't like, or just that it is with me?"

 _You_ , came across the bond, a strong feeling instead of words.

Another nod. "Then it seems the coding has work to do on all of us."

"Indeed," Soundwave said dryly, privately relieved that Prowl was as moral as he was and didn't insist on accepting the unwilling acquiescence. It was an unsettling thought, to be grateful that a mecha he was trying to recruit was an Autobot.

"What am I missing here?" Starscream demanded.

"Just berth arrangements," Prowl told him.

"Disgusting," Starscream said, wings rattling beneath the hiss in his voice. " _That_ , Autoslug, will never happen." 

"You weren't invited," Prowl replied with a shrug.

Starscream's wings jerked up with insult before he tossed his helm and waved his hand airily. "Well, good," he said. 

"Missing your preferred spike?" Prowl taunted him, a vicious savagery in his enjoyment of the sparing with this particular mecha evident in processors, frame and field. "Or just missing your regular beating as foreplay?"

"I'm amazed you even know what foreplay is," Starscream shot back. "You even have the parts for that, or do you have to settle for sucking all your superiors off?"

Prowl actually chuckled. "As well-endowed as Optimus Prime is, I've never sucked him off."

"And here I thought you would be one for a challenge," Starscream said with a shrug. "Guess that proves me wrong."

"A challenge, yes. Rape, no," Prowl replied. "I have higher standards than that."

Starscream snorted. "You don't act like someone with higher standards," he said.

"No, I don't suppose consent factors into your standards," Prowl said. "I happen to hold that interfacing should be something all those involved want."

"And yet you joke to my face about being beaten for foreplay," Starscream hummed. "Maybe I'm a nasty glitch, but at least I'm the same nasty glitch to everyone and I don't pretend to be anything better."

"Then do explain the relationship you have with Megatron. Because it certainly looks like you go hunting for a beating, and then interface with him," Prowl pointed out. "I can see the first time or two being rape, but after this long? You're far too intelligent not to know what will happen."

Starscream sneered at him. "I suppose this comes from reports brought back by your spies?"

"And what I saw at the Rust Sea and outside Iacon," Prowl added. "The most memorable one was when you went after him in front of me in the brig at Polyhex."

"Ha, that," Starscream said with a smirk as he turned to face the door again. "You _would_ narrow everything down to something black and white and simplistic. The world doesn't exist in gradients for you, does it."

"Why should it?" Prowl pressed, turning the question back on Starscream.

Starscream scoffed. "Because everything is flexible. No wonder you're such a glitchy wreck. Does it just blow your processors when the sky is blue one day and gray the next?"

"Of course not. There is a known scientific reason for it. Something not available for your relationship with Megatron," Prowl pointed out. "Why don't you try and blow my processors and explain that?"

The seeker snorted. "Please. You'd glitch out and then we'd have chaos in here. The day I explain my dealings with Megatron to _you_ will be the day grounders grow wings and fly." 

"Starscream: greatly exaggerates the presence of any nuance," Soundwave said dryly.

"Shut up," Starscream hissed at him. "It's your fault we're stuck in here with that Autobot in the first place!"

"Negative," Soundwave replied evenly. "Starscream: sole cause of Starscream being here. Soundwave: prefers Prowl's company to yours."

"Good, since I prefer mine to both of yours," Starscream snapped.

With Prowl seemingly uninclined to bait the Seeker further for the moment, Soundwave allowed the room to settle into relative peace once more and privately thanked Primus that his gestalt wasn't as volatile as the Stunticons. Far more intelligent and inclined towards plotting, but at least he wouldn't be constantly pulling them apart or fending off attacks.

Hopefully, anyway. 

He regarded Prowl for a few kliks before carefully sliding closer to the berth. When nothing happened, he climbed on and sat down, head tilting to the side as he continued to look at the Praxian. As he did so, Prowl's thoughts intentionally shifted away from truly remarkably cruel ways to deactivate a mecha being practiced on Megatron to times before the war, when Praxus was flourishing and he was a new Enforcer only vorns after being sparked. Good and bad, criminals and citizens, beauty and pain all flowed in those memories, but linking it all was the intensely close-knit and unified sub-society that his precinct was, and the city seemed to be.

In those memories too, was that Prowl did know what happiness was, what love was, and he'd been happy in his function protecting his citizens, with and without a lover to share his berth.

~Why were you thinking of Megatron?~ Soundwave asked as he watched the ebb and flow of memories, taking careful note of them and aware that they were being shared intentionally, even if he was not sure why yet.

~He shattered and melted my home, along with the Seeker there,~ Prowl said. ~Ordered it, lead it. He ended my functioning in a horrible fashion. I would have him face the same fate.~

~Ideas from Jazz?~ Soundwave asked, part of him needing to know where such ideas came from.

Prowl gave a small snort out his vents. ~So far neither Jazz nor Vortex, nor you have done anything I have not seen free mecha do to each other. Though Vortex has come close. I was an Enforcer for a long time, Soundwave. I saw everything mecha do to each other, either myself or through the memories of others.~

Soundwave sighed. He had such a long way to go. ~Would you like company?~ he offered, teasing back the memories of past lovers. He might as well lead by example, and be the first to offer comfort to his gestalt mates. None of them would be able to fight it forever. 

Prowl's silence was just as conflicted as Soundwave's. He didn't want _Soundwave's_ company, but he did want company.

_There_

Soundwave saw it, and he saw that Prowl didn't realize just what he'd given up. It would not be easy, but now Soundwave had the key to Prowl's loyalty outside his coding. He just required the time to fully utilize it. It was time that he was not nearly as sure as he wanted to be that Megatron would give him.

~You are welcome to sit there,~ Prowl decided.

~Thank you,~ Soundwave said, and settled with his back to the wall, content with the progress for the orn.

* * *

Soundwave booted early, roused by the fluctuations in the field next to him. They matched what he could sense across the bond and with his telepathy, all of it centering on Prowl's erotic dreams. Soundwave sat up, looking at the recharging Praxian, and experimentally brushed his field out to see if he would rouse. The field spoke of what processors didn't quite as cleanly: Prowl was on his way to consciousness, though from records and the progress Soundwave was watching, it would take at least a breem. He pressed a little more, and the field didn't pull away from him. They slid over each other, Prowl's warm and open, Soundwave's steadier. 

Half hoping he would be batted away, Soundwave reached out and put his hand on Prowl's hip. He felt the minute shifts in energy of wanting to press into the touch but not yet being online enough for it. This close Soundwave could also feel the heat of Prowl's panels, both of them, and the dream began to take into account the touch.

Vents a little quick, Soundwave slipped his hand forward, palm centering on top of Prowl's spike panel. The dream was moving with him, and it wasn't Soundwave there. But the host wanted to do this, no doubt because of the new coding, and he wanted Prowl to enjoy it. Megatron would be pleased with him if he did this. The host hoped his master was watching as his fingers curled and he rubbed his hand in a slow circle.

A low, quiet moan escaped Prowl as the panel clicked open, exposing a housing that, as far as Soundwave could tell, hadn't been touched by another since Praxus had fallen. Yet just from the first touch, Soundwave knew that Prowl still took care of its maintenance, and likely took himself in hand on occasion. Black hips tried to roll into the touch, though they didn't go far. Despite his state, Prowl's frame made tiny shifts that would welcome and accommodate the lover he no doubt thought he was with.

It made Soundwave hesitate--was this wrong?--before he shook the moment away and rubbed his fingers around the spiraled cover over Prowl's spike. If it helped even in the slightest to increase Prowl's opinion of his new leader, it would be worth it. Surely offering pleasure with no demands was a good thing, and Soundwave would make sure Prowl knew no reciprocation was expected. Soundwave did this because he wanted his gestalt mate to feel good.

It didn't hurt that pleasure like this, untainted by thoughts or coercion, was a rare and very pleasurable thing for the telepath.

Another moan escaped Prowl as he came a little more on line and Soundwave got his first good look at the lover Prowl was thinking of. A bright golden visor and black plating stood out. An Enforcer, but not one of the normal ones.

The housing spiraled open and Prowl's spike, the tip a glossy black, began to extend.

~Good,~ Soundwave whispered over the bond as his thumb circled the sensitive metal, getting a feel for the initial shape. The memories of the black hand grew more vivid as the spike pressurized, slowly and steadily, and Soundwave encouraged them. He would do anything to encourage pleasure for the Praxian. Prowl should feel safe here, and wanted, and valued, because he was all those things. A being as special as Prowl should not have been alone for so long. What was wrong with the Autobots, that they couldn't see how important Prowl was, and how much he needed someone to take care of him?

The thought honestly surprised Soundwave for a moment before he accepted it and moved on. Gestalt code would make such thoughts more and more common. If Onslaught could find value in mecha like Vortex or Brawl, it should come as no surprise that Soundwave would find it in Prowl.

Prowl's spike was warm and heavy in his palm and he shifted his grip to stroke from base to tip. He squeezed lightly and swirled his thumb around the head before repeating the motion, moving in a steady rhythm.

He was rewarded by a deep moan and gasp of pleasure as fans kicked on and Prowl began to roll his hips into the touch, far more aware but not yet cognizant of who was touching him. Soundwave could feel the charge building quickly against his palm, feel the pleasure in the bond despite Prowl's ineffectual block and see it in the booting processors that were becoming more lucid by the nanoklik but no less interested in the pleasure being offered.

All good signs. Soundwave loved the way Prowl's frame responded, the images flooding his mind. He pressed closer, twisting his wrist as he stroked up and down. ~Very good,~ he whispered again, relishing the aroused heat pouring off Prowl's frame. The movement of a white hand and black forearm was a surprise, and even more so when it tried to draw him even closer and into a kiss. Soundwave's spark jumped up in his chest and he gladly and eagerly returned it to quickly learn that Prowl was an assertive and passionate kisser.

Even now that Prowl was aware that it wasn't his long-lost lover with him, and he pushed caring away. He was too hungry for it, for the blinding rush that was building, and the acceptance was from a time when Prowl didn't always know who he was booting up with.

Soundwave loved every moment of it, and didn't slow until Prowl jerked under him. He tightened his fingers, giving the Praxian something to push into, and held there as he shuddered and overloaded onto the berth. He kept his field as contained as he could, prevented the bond from spilling over with excitement and arousal. He didn't want Prowl to think this was in order to get something in return.

By the time the overload faded, Prowl was fully booted and aware, though from his mind and field, he was less certain exactly how to react to what had so clearly happened. Ice blue optics watched Soundwave, took in his field, and worked through many things as Soundwave relaxed his grip and drew his hand away. Yet through all the uncertainties, rejection wasn't among the reactions. He was uncertain, but he didn't object.

Soundwave gazed back calmly. He could hear Prowl trying to figure out whether to offer to return the touch, something that he wouldn't object to. But he was truly content if Prowl didn't wish to, and only wanted him to act out of genuine desire for a gestalt mate, rather than obligation. Soundwave tried to make that clear across the bond as he settled down, spooning around Prowl from behind. 

Prowl slid his glossa along his lip plates, tasting the residual of Soundwave's touch. After a moment, he made a choice and shifted to roll over, the intent to have Soundwave on his back clear in his mind, yet the white fingers reached for Soundwave's spike cover.

The host tried to muffle his gasp as the panel snapped back, truly surprised and thrilled by the progress. He slipped his lower arm under Prowl's shoulders, giving him something to rest his helm on. Then he shivered and lowered his own helm down as Prowl's fingers brushed over the tip of his spike. He let go of the hold on his field and it pulsed out with the thrill of the connection they were building.

Prowl's field responded with the pleasure he took in causing pleasure as he settled Soundwave on his back and continued his roll until he was straddling Soundwave's legs as he used teasing fingers to coax the blue and black spike out.

Soundwave's hands settled on his waist, the host watching raptly. He was starting to become aware of attention from Starscream's bond, but he didn't look that way. This time was for Prowl. 

White fingers stroked the length of his spike when it clicked into full extension and Soundwave shivered, his hips rolling up. Even though he thought he was paying attention, the groan that escaped him when Prowl lifted up to sink down around his spike was startled, a note increased by the fact that Prowl enjoyed the sensation of fullness and the slide inside his slick valve.

His comms pinged suddenly-- _Lord Megatron_ \--and with a thick wash of guilt Soundwave didn't answer. He knew what his master would say, and he didn't want to listen right now. It didn't matter that Prowl was on top and in control, he was the one pleasuring Soundwave. 

The host's grip tightened and he gave a hard thrust upwards, pushing in decisively. Now he was certain that Starscream was staring at them, and Megatron and who knew how many others were watching. But he stayed on his back and let Prowl ride him until he was gasping. The pleasure that was thick in the Praxian drove him as much as the physical stimulation. Prowl was pleasuring him, but Prowl was enjoying this too.

It was so much more than Soundwave expected. How long had it been since he'd been close to a mutually pleasurable interface, much less part of it.

The ping came again, more insistent, and Soundwave disabled his comms entirely, and pressed forward the idea to Prowl that he would like to kiss him again. There was no hesitation as Prowl leaned forward, still working the spike inside him as he pressed his lip plates to Soundwave's mask and slid his glossa suggestively along the seam. It retracted immediately and Soundwave parted his mouth enough to swirl their glossas together, then moaned, and seized up as he overloaded. His following cry was muffled against Prowl's mouth as he rocked up in short, desperate thrusts, trying to overload his lover before it was through.

It didn't take much, by the third burst of transfluid Prowl arched his back, doorwings flared wide as energy crackled across his frame with a sharp keen of bliss.

Soundwave recorded the Praxian in the highest definition he was capable of it, caught up in the moment and certain that he would wish to revisit it in the future. How quickly they'd grown together! The new coding sang in happiness at being fulfilled so easily, and Soundwave's spark soared at the pleasure coming across the bond.

"Screecher's staring," Prowl mumbled as he lay, sprawled and strutless, on Soundwave.

Starscream hissed at him. 

"Affirmative," Soundwave said, turning his helm to look at the Seeker as his mask came back into place. "Starscream: should feel free to join us if he would like." 

"Frag yourselves," Starscream snarled, visibly uncomfortable and unable to tear his gaze away from the exhausted lovers.

"We did that," Prowl chuckled. "You're the one alone."

"And it's going to stay that way," Starscream said pissily, wings twitching with agitation. "I'm not going to give into our _gracious_ leader's insanity! I won't, I refuse!" 

"Starscream's voice: is grating," Soundwave said. 

" _I'll show you grating!_ "

"I know how to disable a vocalizer, if you hold him still," Prowl suggested lazily.

"Hmm..." 

"You wouldn't," Starscream said. 

"Assumption: incorrect," Soundwave said as he and Prowl sat together. "Prowl's idea: has merit." 

"Keep the frag away from me!" 

Before either of them could answer or move, the door opened, causing Starscream to fall backwards into the doorway, his helm hitting against a slate gray pede. The Seeker's optics went wide and he let out an undignified shriek before scrambling away to his pedes, snarling at the mech standing there. 

"Soundwave," Megatron growled.

"You've _finally_ come to your senses, I see," Starscream huffed and attempted to walk past the warlord.

"Lord Megatron," Soundwave responded as he quietly clamped a hand on Prowl's arm. The Praxian's processors were entirely too focused on every weak point in their master's frame for the subtle preparation to lunge to be a good thing.

Megatron's dark, almost lazy gaze drifted over them, and nothing betrayed the sudden movement from his arm that shot out and grabbed Starscream by the neck and threw him back into the cell. 

"I am here to order you to turn your comms back on. Ignoring me will not be permissible in the future," Megatron rumbled to Soundwave, who found himself tensing and focusing on Starscream. 

But the host gave a stiff nod and switched his communications array back on. "Soundwave: was concentrating on achieving his master's wishes," he said, head bowed. "It will not happen again, my Lord."

"Seriously?" Prowl gave Megatron a decidedly disgusted look, the same look the most pathetic of petty criminals were subjected to. "You're dumb enough to comm during interfacing and expect to be answered?"

"I expect those who serve me to respond whenever I call," Megatron said. "You will learn that." His gaze shifted to Starscream. "Start behaving, or you will wish you had perished with your city." 

Starscream's wings rattled angrily but he stayed on the ground and said nothing.

"You really need to come up with better threats," Prowl said mildly, his tone betraying nothing of the pure hate in his mind and spark for both beings involved. "If you haven't deactivated him yet, you aren't going to."

The lazy red gaze shifted to Prowl. "I won't deactivate him. He is bound to Soundwave now, and I wouldn't waste his life on this glitch. I am pleased to see you settling in, Prowl." 

"Keep me pleased and you might survive long enough to see Cybertron bright again," Prowl responded as he relaxed on Soundwave again, giving no apparent care to the warlord, though Soundwave could read how much processor power was directed at Megatron.

It tore at him, loyalty to his Lord warring with loyalty to this mech. He had to remember why he was doing this, and who this was all for. The great glory of Lord Megatron's reign, the one and only hope and future of Cybertron. Prowl would understand, once Soundwave had his trust and loyalty. He would understand that the Prime could only lead to a return of the corruption that had pushed them here. Lord Megatron would reign supreme. 

"I will leave that duty to Soundwave," Megatron said, and left. 

Starscream rushed the door at the last second, too slow, and slammed into it as it closed, letting out a piercing shriek of fury. 

"So, disable his vocalizer?" Prowl refocused on Soundwave with the mild question.

Soundwave sighed, looking at the mech who technically outranked him, feeling a twinge of pity as he looked at the drooped wings and listened to the pathetic mewling and begging. "Affirmative," he agreed. 

"You hold him. It'll only take a quarter klik, if that," Prowl promised as he reluctantly extracted himself from the sprawl over his lover. "What brought you to Megatron, anyway?" he asked as Starscream whirled around, wings to the door.

"Lord Megatron: is a kind master," Soundwave said, stretching and standing. "His opponents: smeared his image thorough, but without him, Soundwave would have perished in the gutters. Lord Megatron: took me in."

Starscream hissed at them both as they approached. "He took you in to use your telepathy, are you stupid?" he demanded. " _Stay away from me!_ "

"Hate to say it, but the Seeker's right," Prowl said, but his processors were full of sympathy and understanding that could only come from another compliance-coded mecha who hated their leader.

Soundwave growled and lunged for Starscream, getting a face full of claws before he could grab him. But it created such startled shock in the Seeker that Starscream froze and Soundwave was able to get both his wrists, and then shove him down onto the ground, pinning him from behind. "Prowl and Starscream: are wrong," the host said over the furious wailing. "Soundwave's skills: are useful, but not the reason for his caring."

"He doesn't act like it," Prowl said calmly as he grabbed Starscream's helm with one hand and reached into his neck cabling with the other. Too many nanokliks of thrashing and screeching later, and Starscream was only thrashing. "There, all quiet," he smiled as he extracted his fingers and let go.

Soundwave smiled at him through his field. "Much more peaceful." 

Starscream rattled his wings as loudly as he could and glared sullenly at the pair, before knocking Soundwave off, shoving Prowl away, and stalking back over to his post by the door.

"So, how is Megatron such a good master?" Prowl asked as he motioned Soundwave to follow him to the washrack.

"Lord Megatron: treats well those who respect him," Soundwave said.

"Such as?" Prowl prodded for examples as he turned the shower on, wanting to see what Soundwave saw. "Hot or cool?"

"Lukewarm," Soundwave said, and was rewarded by a lukewarm fall of solvent and being nudged under it. "Lord Megatron: has rewarded me for my faithfulness. Never: has he struck me or punished me. He is a jealous master, but a loving one to his faithful."

"Rewards?" Prowl prompted as he began to wash Soundwave, starting with the top of his helm.

"Shelter, energon, status," Soundwave said. "Safety for my cassettes."

A sadness flickered through Prowl but his hands didn't pause. ~You really don't see this as punishment?~ he pressed the thought forward. ~Ordering you to bond with one mech that he beats senseless regularly and another who will not survive much past the end of the war?~

~This is service for my Lord,~ Soundwave said. ~And for our species. With you and Starscream working together, we can save what is left.~

Prowl didn't hold back the snort or the utterly incredulousness he felt at the idea. ~Our species deserves to extinguish. There are no leaders capable of both winning the war and rebuilding Cybertron. It's time for Primus to start over.~

~If Primus wished to start over, he would have,~ Soundwave said. ~We will keep fighting for his children as long as he believes they should live.~

~For the good of Cybertron, or for the good of Megatron?~ Prowl asked rather pointedly.

~Cybertron,~ Soundwave said firmly.

Prowl nodded with a soft hum as he moved down to Soundwave's shoulders. ~What happened to Megatron that drove him insane?~

Soundwave stilled. ~Megatron ... is distracted by his overwhelming need for victory,~ he said lamely. He didn't understand when Prowl didn't press him, but he was grateful for it.

"What did you desire to be, after the war?" Prowl asked as if the silent conversation had never happened.

Soundwave x-vented, watching one of Prowl's hands and musing how strange it was that this felt normal, half wanting to shove Prowl away, half joyful that they had progressed this far. "Undecided," he said. "Prowl: has desires when the war is won?"

"Less desire and more a welcome fate. I can finally join my city and my people," Prowl answered, allowing the implications to hang there for both his new bondmates to contemplate.

Soundwave tensed. "Soundwave ... sees," he said, and was suddenly very worried. Was this going to be his reward for being faithful to his master? Trying to survive a bond break? "Soundwave: will simply have to help Prowl find reasons to live."

"Romantic, though unwelcome," Prowl said, his entire being relaxed and calm about speaking of and contemplating his end. "Though I would say that your first concern would to be ensure I do not deactivate myself to take both of you out. Megatron would not survive the results. The Autobots would survive my loss better."

"Soundwave: calls Prowl's bluff," the host accused. "Such an action: would condemn many more mecha to violent death than working together."

"Such an action would result in a _sane_ mecha left standing as leader when the dust settled," Prowl countered. "The long term viability of our race is significantly better under Optimus Prime than Megatron. As little as I agree with him on, he is a mecha of law and order, and is focused on the good of the lowest of us as much as the highest. Megatron cares only for himself."

Soundwave took Prowl's hands and removed them from his frame. "Prowl: will not speak that way of his Lord and master," he said. "When we are truly gestalt: you will feel differently."

"Only Megatron can change what I believe of him, and it must be by his actions," Prowl countered calmly. "If he is a worthy leader for the future of Cybertron, he will show it."

Soundwave sighed, and returned to washing his frame. He felt Prowl understand the rebuke and even more, that it did hurt a little. The Praxian backed up a little, and waited for his turn under the shower.

* * *

Starscream continued to glare silently as the pair washed up from their disgustingly arousing tryst, and went to their separate corners. Well, Prowl went back to the berth after pulling a bookfile to read. Soundwave didn't actually go to his corner, he settled on the couch and turned the news on. Not that it was real news, but pure propaganda. Still Starscream watched and commented snidely in his processors until he caught the motion of Prowl moving towards him a couple joors later. He tensed and lifted his wings in a clear warning to stay away from him, getting his back to the door and popping his claws.

"If you want your vocalizer back on, you'll let me close," Prowl said calmly even as he stopped.

Starscream's optics narrowed, but his wings lowered and he put his palms on the ground. He kept his optics on Prowl as the Autobot came close and knelt, then messed around inside Starscream's throat cabling for a moment. It was nearly as quick as it had been to disable, and suddenly Starscream was getting HUD notices scrolling by that his vocalizer was connected again, and Prowl's hands were leaving.

Even before Starscream could snark at him, the Praxian stood and went back to the berth.

He glared after him. "If you ever try that slag again I'll be sure to return the favor," he said. 

"Starscream: should not make threats which he cannot fulfill," Soundwave said. 

"Shut up, no one asked you, you overgrown radio!" 

"You are welcome to try, Starscream. Your probability of success is only marginally better than it would be with Megatron," Prowl responded smoothly. "Your only advantage on me is flight, something you do not possess here."

Starscream reached down to idly rub at one of his thrusters. That was true. He was rubbish at ground fighting, as he _should_ be. It was beneath him. " _You_ ," he said, shifting his focus to Soundwave. "What possessed Megatron to keep his Air Commander locked in here? What are you two playing at?"

"Lord Megatron: wishes Starscream to become obedient," Soundwave stated.

Prowl didn't stop his snicker.

Starscream opened his mouth to snap something rude back at the Praxian, then stopped, and shrugged. It _was_ laughable. "That old bucket. If he thinks _this_ is going to turn me into an exhaust-sucker like you, he's got another thing coming."

"He believes it will convert me as well," Prowl chuckled. "While I do loyal well, loyal to _him_ is ludicrous given my history and base coding."

"Exactly," Starscream said, then flicked his wings in surprise at his own answer. He funneled the frustration into a glare at Soundwave. "Why _us_ , together with you? Why not link us each into another gestalt? It's not like your loyalty will rub off on him, and it's not he gains anything from me. All he does is lose control over you."

"Soundwave: will lead this gestalt. Prowl and Starscream: will follow," the host insisted. "Gestalt code, bonding code: will ensure this."

Starscream and Prowl snorted in unison, then glanced at each other for a moment before looking away again. "Don't know why he needed to complicate things by throwing _me_ in the mix. He should have left it as just you and the Autoslug. Now I'll just end up leading both of you and will finally use it to overthrow him. This is one of his worst ideas yet."

"You are assuming a great deal, Starscream. You do not have the will or spark that I do," Prowl's tone was cold and blatantly challenging. It was far harsher than Soundwave had ever had directed at him in this room.

"I easily have both and more," Starscream said, lifting his chin. "I've withstood Megatron for centuries, what have _you_ done but lick at your Prime's treads? Pathetic."

"I survived the end of my function, I survived the war, and perhaps most importantly, I _will **not**_ follow the mecha who melted my home to scrap," Prowl growled, deep and threatening. "I'll see you gray before I follow you."

"Then you'll see me gray," Starscream said smugly, before his wings flinched, and he gave a disgusted sigh at himself and glowered at the floor. "But that will never happen so you might as well resign yourself," he tried to recover. 

"Neither of you: will lead," Soundwave repeated with flat annoyance. 

"Shut up," Starscream told him. 

"Only if you are stronger than both of us," Prowl replied. "The strongest will lead."

"Soundwave: will lead," the host repeated stubbornly. 

Starscream gave a disgusted sigh and turned back around to face the door. "Primus take me now," he muttered.

"That can be arranged," Prowl's rumble was dark and full of promise to carry it out, but a look from Soundwave and pulse over the bond stopped him. Prowl let out a sigh and settled. "Why did you become a Decepticon?" he asked Starscream instead.

"Ugh." Starscream flicked his wings. "I was sick of the two-faced corruption of the Primes. If the Autobots hadn't risen, the revolt would have been _fast_ and glorious."

"Perhaps, perhaps not for long," Prowl shrugged. "Why not accept peace when it was offered? The terms were favorable and the corruption was criminalized."

"Compromise was never an option, only victory."

"Thank you for admitting that this was never about the good of Cybertron," Prowl's harmonics was a strange mix of condescending and genuine.

Starscream gave a low, furious hiss. "Stop trying to act so mighty, surrender was always an option and your Prime knew that. It takes two sides to fight a war. If he was so concerned for the _good_ of Cybertron, he would have stayed in the priesthood where he belonged, with all the rest of the lunatics."

"He was never a priest," Prowl said casually. "Optimus was a dock worker before the Matrix chose him."

Starscream glanced back. "A clear sign that he shouldn't have tried to command an army if I ever saw one."

Prowl raised an optic ridge at him. "I am surprised you are so ignorant. He was given as much choice in the matter as I was in being a Praxian Enforcer. It does not change that he wanted to build the society that Megatron originally claimed to want. Yet when that society was offered, it was refused."

"Pah." Starscream flicked his wings with contempt and glared at the door.


	4. Selections

Soundwave regarded Prowl contemplatively. Nearly two orns had passed in near silence, with Megatron giving him the time he needed--for now--and the other two unwilling to speak with each other. Prowl buried himself in the offered datapads and recharged, Starscream stayed in front of the door, optics glowing darkly. Occasionally, he muttered to himself. 

Megatron's patience wouldn't last forever, however, and Soundwave wanted to please his master. The best way to do that was to bring these two to heel, and he would start with Prowl. Maybe a show for his Lord, to prove the Praxian's submission. Surely enough time had passed by now. 

He stood, crossing over to the berth, looking down at him in silence. Prowl looked up at him, then reached out with field and mind with a calm 'what do you want?'

~I want you on your back,~ Soundwave said, trying to make his field hard against Prowl's. Hard, and commanding. He would command his gestalt the way he did his cassettes. The way Lord Megatron commanded him. Firmly, and with great rewards for loyalty, and harsh punishment for failure and disobedience.

Prowl cocked his helm. ~You don't need to be like that,~ he purred and slid down on the berth, offering a hand to Soundwave in welcome.

Soundwave hesitated. He'd expected more of a fight than that. Starscream was watching with interest, not even trying to hide it. Soundwave needed to be firm. 

With a frown, he batted Prowl's hand away and moved over him, pushing one of his legs back with a knee. He could feel the confusion in his mate, hear the certainty that Prowl knew he was missing something in his mind, but all the Praxian did was relax and allow Soundwave his dominance. If Soundwave needed to act like this was unwanted, Prowl could and would give him that, to a point at least.

Soundwave felt relieved when he complied. The host's spike extended quickly, a clear sign of a forced pressurization, and he dipped his hips down to nudge at Prowl's valve cover. "Open," he said.

Again Prowl complied smoothly, without hesitation between them, but made no effort to act like he was completely willing.

Soundwave huffed at the strange display from the Autobot. But he was submitting, so what did it matter if he fought about it or not? He knew he wouldn't get away with this with Starscream so easily. Maybe Prowl would help him, if it wasn't too uncomfortable to fight the gestalt coding that was slowly taking hold in all three of them. 

He pushed in and thrust deep, watching the video feeds for the moment his master logged in to see his victory. It was slick and warm, the calipers and lining eagerly cycling around him and rippling in welcome.

Prowl held back a moan and brought an image to the forefront of his mind of Soundwave's hands pinning his with interlaced fingers.

It startled Soundwave to be directed towards something like that--he'd thought to reward his mate by not making the dominating any more humiliating than it had to be--but he did lean forward and move his hands along Prowl's arms to copy the offered picture. Prowl seemed to enjoy it when he rolled his hips, even though his doorwings were pressed to the padding. Clearly, this was pleasurable for him.

A low moan escaped Prowl and he tipped his helm back, offering his throat. ~Makes you look good, for Megatron?~ Prowl brought the thought forward.

~Affirmative,~ Soundwave said, a bit glumly as he leaned forward and bit down lightly. Clearly this was not what he'd hoped it was. ~What you are doing is a great humiliation.~

~Not to me,~ Prowl responded gently as a wave of pleasure washed through him. ~You have no idea how kinky I get.~

~How kinky is that?~ Soundwave asked, carefully hiding that he hoped to catch glimpses of any of Prowl's lovers among the Autobots. The mech was far too used to this to not have any.

Prowl didn't answer with words, but rather images and short vids, every single one of either himself through a camera or memory file a lover had shared, or of his lovers, and there had been many, if Soundwave was picking out small details and faint designation-traces correctly. But they were also all old files, ancient really. All of Praxians, all Enforcers.

Despite that disappointment, what Prowl showed him was kinky indeed. Bondage, sometimes quite artfully done, that completely immobilized a mecha. Sometimes Prowl was ravaging the mech, sometimes Prowl was being ravaged, all of it drenched in intense arousal and pleasure. Images of bound mecha with toys in them or around their spikes, even on their chambers, as they moaned and keened their pleasure while Prowl watched.

Memories that held less arousal came forward as well, scenes of sadism worthy of any torturer turned on mecha Prowl commanded because they asked for it, pleaded for him to on occasion. Images of his playroom in Praxus, of his collection of toys.

And not a hint that he had replaced any of it since Praxus fell.

Soundwave decided the results were interesting, certainly intriguing, even if a bit disappointing. Some of it looked worthy of exploration. He'd never really indulged in lovers, but the bound mecha... 

He thrust a little harder, a deep purr rumbling up from his engines. ~Perhaps ... someday we might explore your kinks,~ he said.

~I would like that,~ Prowl moaned and rolled his hips up to meet the thrusts, giving up any pretense of not enjoying this fully. ~It's been too long.~

So no lovers then, Soundwave decided. He kept his mouth on Prowl's neck and did his best to bring himself to a quick overload. At the very least, Megatron could see that for Soundwave it was nothing but a frag, even if his partner was behaving incredibly strange.

It didn't take long, not with Prowl being so responsive and working his spike, his mind alive with erotic images for Soundwave to feel. With a low moan Soundwave overloaded into the willing frame under his, flooding Prowl with current from the transfluid. The Praxian gasped and tried to bring an overload by working himself along Soundwave's crackling spike, but it wasn't enough before Soundwave relaxed above him. 

He pulled out with a low groan, and was privately pleased that Prowl hadn't overloaded. Perhaps he would look suitably distressed for Megatron, so that Soundwave could be seen as having _some_ iota of control over the entire situation. As he looked down, he felt a twinge of guilt. Prowl was looking up, both confused and decidedly annoyed.

~For Megatron?~ Prowl pressed the thought forward.

~Your submission is required,~ Soundwave said, finding Prowl's lack of understanding in the matter frustrating. ~You accept what I give.~

Prowl's optics narrowed. ~Not for long,~ he warned firmly. ~I'll play the part to make you look good. Do not push my good will on it.~

~You are not playing a part,~ Soundwave said, but even he could hear that he didn't have as much force in his voice as Prowl did.

~Then I will stop playing a part,~ Prowl rumbled, his mind-voice hardening. ~I will grant you this orn. You will not abuse my good will again.~

Soundwave tensed and held the optic contact with him for nearly a klik, and then looked away. 

Looked away _first._

He heard Starscream's sharp intake and turned towards the Seeker, whose wings lifted threateningly. "You keep away from me," Starscream hissed. 

Soundwave couldn't. He had to try. If he could force Starscream to submit to his will, he could use that against Prowl. He _had_ to control them. Lord Megatron was expecting it. He would want to see progress.

"Starscream: will submit." Soundwave corrected as he moved towards the Seeker while Prowl watched. "Options: none."

For either of them. Soundwave _had_ to control his gestalt mates. There was no other option.

"Frag. You." Starscream got up to his pedes, optics narrowed into a close focus on Soundwave.

"Negative. Soundwave: will frag Starscream," he corrected as Prowl leaned back on the berth to watch, his spike already in hand and stroking it lightly.

"You can try," Starscream sneered, helm tilting back a bit to keep the optic contact as Soundwave came in close. "I do have _some_ pride."

"Pride: irrelevant," the host reached out to grab Starscream's left wing to force him to kneel.

Starscream's hand shot out and grabbed Soundwave's wrist as he snarled, and then he brought his free hand up in a fast uppercut, slamming the heel of his palm into the host's chin. Soundwave's helm was snapped back, but the stronger mech took one more step forward into Starscream's space and punched him solidly in the chest vent as their fields meshed and the contest became more about their wills and sparks than the blows they continued to exchange.

"Killjoy," Prowl grumbled and shifted, losing interest in jerking off when the fight continued.

" _Good,_ " Starscream spat, optics locked on the host's visor. He grabbed the side of Soundwave's helm and tried to wrench his gaze away, but Soundwave countered with a sharp punch to Starscream's cockpit. The Seeker hissed and slammed his knee up into Soundwave's middle, and then they froze and everything shifted into the bond. 

~ _On your knees,_ ~ Soundwave thundered.

~ _Never_!~ Starscream snarled back, his entire being focused on forcing Soundwave away from him. ~Only for Megatron.~

~This _is_ for Megatron,~ Soundwave said, and pushed his full strength across the bond, projecting the image of the kneel into the center of Starscream's spark. 

Starscream groaned, optics flickering as he fought back against the more experience spark. He felt his knees start to bend.

Then something clicked inside him, a truth he refused to give voice to even inside his own processors. ~ _ **No!**_ You will not command me!~

Soundwave felt the truth of that slam into him, and as hard as he tried to grab hold and anchor himself in Starscream's spark, found himself suddenly and viciously repulsed, and he looked into Starscream's optics, and looked away. 

Starscream raked claws across his face, then shoved him back, wings high and twitching. "I _said_ ," he snarled, "You _keep away from me._ " 

Soundwave stumbled back, a hand on his face, feeling and seeing the scratches there. He felt his other non-cassette bond pulse, calling him to the berth, and he complied without thinking. Strong white hands guided him to sit and then were gently examining the scratches.

"They aren't that deep, but it would be good to have them filled if we have any supplies," Prowl said with quiet concern.

"Supplies: not of that kind. Self-repair: will be sufficient," Soundwave said, still under Prowl's attention. "Damage: limited."

"Ratchet would disagree, but we don't have his standards held to here I suppose," Prowl sighed but accepted the limitations. "I guess it's down to Screamer and myself to sort out our ranks."

Starscream scoffed, flicked his wings dismissively, and returned to sitting in front of the door. 

Soundwave stared at Prowl as the Praxian continued to look over the minor damage on his frame. He could feel loyalties in his processor shifting and rearranging themselves around what had just happened. He'd failed his ... master. Former master? Was Megatron still his master? If Starscream won against Prowl, then yes, Megatron was still his master, at least as long as Starscream didn't order otherwise. If Prowl won ... if Prowl won, they would both be bound to the Prime. There was no option there. Prowl hated Megatron on a level that would never be overcome, and if Soundwave was honest with himself, Prowl had good reason for that hate. The Praxian wasn't an Autobot for the fate of Cybertron, or because he believed in the Prime's vision, or anything to do with the future. Prowl fought against Megatron, and he didn't really care who that meant he was fighting for.

~You're distressed,~ Prowl reached over the bond.

~Yes,~ Soundwave said, looking down at the 'Bot who barely came up to the top of his chest the way they were sitting. ~I ... am disoriented.~ The cassettes were starting to press in, feeling a change they couldn't understand. He blocked them out and bowed his head. ~Megatron will be displeased.~

~It will be all right,~ Prowl reassured him gently but firmly with the knowledge based on a lifetime with compliance coding. ~The coding will settle soon.~

Soundwave nodded. ~I should not have refused you like that.~

~No, you shouldn't have,~ Prowl agreed, his touch and spark still gentle. ~You are forgiven. This is stressful for all of us. Mistakes will be made.~

~Would you like me to finish now?~ Soundwave asked.

~Yes,~ Prowl answered, tugging at Soundwave very lightly as he rolled fully onto the berth, to his hands and knees, valve exposed and doorwings flared wide and back. ~Use my lack of shame in positions to look better for Megatron.~

~Yes,~ Soundwave murmured as he moved behind him, wrapping one hand around his waist and bringing pelvis to aft. He ground down against Prowl, bewildered that the Autobot didn't find this humiliating. And with doorwings, even. 

Soundwave lifted a hand to press against one of them, flexing his fingers and pulling along the smooth planes. It didn't create even the slightest bit of stress in Prowl to have his doorwings so vulnerable like this. Soundwave extended his spike and angled his hips to rub against the valve opening.

Prowl stifled a moan, shunting as much of his vocal reaction into vibrating his frame, his field and his spark bond as he could. ~Doorwings feel _so_ good when stroked. Another thing 'Cons don't do?~

~Decepticons do not expose that which is vulnerable willingly to others,~ Soundwave said. ~Wings are vulnerable. The throat is vulnerable. The spark is vulnerable. To take pleasure from a valve is ... a disgrace.~

Prowl couldn't completely hide his shock at the last item, though he concealed the gasp in one of pleasure. ~How sad,~ he eventually decided. ~The valve was intended for pleasure. That's why it has sensors.~

~It means you are unable to defend even your own frame,~ Soundwave said, curling over Prowl with a groan. ~To take pleasure from being invaded is wrong.~

~We'll have to work on changing that idea, when we have actual privacy,~ Prowl moaned deeply and rocked into the thrusts. ~There should be no shame in consensual pleasure.~

Soundwave cringed uncomfortably at the thought and didn't answer, wanting to focus on bringing Prowl to his overload. He shunted his own charge away in order to last as long as he would need, but thankfully it felt like Prowl wouldn't demand much from him. The Praxian's charge hadn't been completely dissipated from before, and he was completely focused on enjoying this, something that so clearly came easily. No one had ever told Prowl this was wrong.

~C-close,~ Prowl gasped in warning as he began to tremble, the desire that they overload together, or at least close to it, bright in his mind.

It caught Soundwave so off guard to feel that that his hips jerked forward, breaking his rhythm. He moaned and steadied himself with one hand on the berth, the other around Prowl's middle, driving himself towards overload. 

When Prowl's valve began to tighten and spasm around him, Soundwave cried out and let go, spilling immediately into the 'Bot. They held there, locked in the overload for a long, blissful moment before gradually coming down. It was like nothing Soundwave had experienced before, and as Prowl came back to himself, it was just as strange to feel that the Praxian was still pleased with it.

Moving as much from Prowl's semi-conscious thoughts as his own, Soundwave nudged one doorwing to tuck under the hood, a movement he'd never realized it could do until a few orns ago, and pulled them to the side so Prowl was tucked against his chest in a position that both displayed Soundwave's dominance, and that he intended to protect his companion. It all made the gestalt coding him with pleasure.

" _Freaks,_ " Starscream hissed at them, not hiding that he'd watched the entire thing.

~He'll come around,~ Prowl murmured silently, quite content to simply relax where he was and sink into recharge.

~He takes pleasure from his valve,~ Soundwave said slowly, and it was clear to Prowl that the host felt like he was betraying his very faction to admit such a thing of a ranking officer. ~He has commanded almost no respect since Megatron revealed that fact.~

~That explains _so_ much,~ Prowl murmured after processing that. ~Entirely too much of that dysfunctional situation. After I teach you that pleasure is not shameful, we will have to teach him.~

Soundwave shifted uncomfortably, but nodded. Either Prowl or Starscream would lead him soon, and right now, Prowl was acting the part. Soundwave would obey, and learn.

At least Prowl seemed to care about his gestalt-mates the way a leader should.

* * *

Two orns passed in relative peace, with only a small amount of threat display and snarling from Starscream whenever Prowl got too close. That suited the Praxian just fine; he was in no hurry. He continued to monitor the healing of Soundwave's wounds, and made sure to keep his wings high whenever he was looking at Starscream. He and Soundwave continued their charade for Megatron's viewing pleasure, as Starscream looked on suspiciously. 

The morning of the third orn since Prowl and Starscream had won dominance over Soundwave, the giant screen across from the lounge came to life with a loud chime. 

Starscream lifted his head from where he'd been resting back to the door, knees up and arms folded over them, blinking at it. "Of _course_ he made it noisy," he said as Megatron's face appeared.

"Do you really think he's capable of not making an event out of his appearance?" Prowl asked mildly, only looking at Megatron after a short staring match with Starscream was interrupted by Soundwave.

"Lord Megatron: how may we serve?"

"How may _you_ serve," Starscream said, glaring at the host. "I'm not serving Lord Buckethead over there ever again." 

"But you _will_ serve Soundwave," Megatron growled, and pinned the host with a second glare. "Soundwave! How is it that Starscream is not yet under your control?" 

"You have to be joking," Starscream said. "I'm _twice_ the mech of these two drones combined!"

"If you are even a fraction of the mech I am, the Autobots wouldn't have lasted a vorn," Prowl shot back, his doorwings flaring high.

"Starscream: difficult to control," Soundwave said with his utter exasperation at the bickering of his gestalt mates showing through just a bit.

"Then figure out a way to control him!" Megatron commanded. "It is not difficult!" 

Starscream hissed at the screen. "If it isn't difficult, why haven't _you_ managed it yet?" he demanded. 

"He has a point," Prowl spoke up with a smug look. "What kind of leader demands others do what he cannot?"

"I notice you neither leave the Decepticons, nor have the courage to challenge me outright," Megatron rumbled, before his glare snapped to Soundwave. "Control the Praxian's insolence when he speaks to me, Soundwave!" 

"Yes, my Lord," Soundwave said immediately, dropping down to one knee and placing his hand over his spark. 

"You are disgusting," Starscream told him.

"Just processor damaged," Prowl countered, speaking to Starscream rather than Megatron. "Can't say I'm surprised you didn't leave though. After all, without Decepticon protection, you'd have been torn apart within orns."

"I notice I haven't been captured and imprisoned by the enemy," Starscream said, facing Prowl directly, the two of them glaring at each other over Soundwave, who stayed kneeling. "How's that working out for you?"

"Better than it is for you," Prowl smirked. "How's it feel to be imprisoned by your own commander?"

"Kind of like a normal orn, really," Starscream said with a shrug. "I never said he was a desirable commander, I won't argue with you on that one." 

"Starscream," Megatron growled. 

"I'm only being honest, Lord Megatron," Starscream said sweetly, causing Prowl to burst out laughing.

"Even _if_ he becomes loyal, you'll never tame that vocalizer," Prowl commented as he recovered. "Though I'd say he's entirely too loyal already. As you said, he's still with you."

"Shut up," Starscream snapped at him. "At least I'm not taking it from _Soundwave._ "

"At least I'm not ashamed to take pleasure from a part designed to create it," Prowl replied almost mildly. "I haven't forgotten what interfacing was designed to be."

"That just makes you a _fool,_ " Starscream hissed. "No one will _ever_ respect you. This entire endeavor is doomed to failure like everything else, and this time it's because of _you._ "

"Perhaps no Decepticon, but since none respect me anyway, it's not exactly a loss," Prowl pointed out. "As for ruining this endeavor by remaining true to myself, I'll take that as a compliment."

"You would," Starscream said. "Weakling Autobot. Lord Megatron--" Starscream faced the warlord. "--Very soon, I will be leading this gestalt. I hope you have prepared yourself for your destruction."

"Not going to happen," Prowl snorted.

"Negative," Soundwave turned on the Seeker. "Starscream: inferior."

"I beat you, didn't I?" Starscream demanded. "Starscream _is_ superior." 

"Soundwave: controls Prowl," the host said. "Only time is needed: to bring Starscream to heel." 

"Just you try it, you walking comms system," Starscream snarled, and raised his wings towards Soundwave in a challenge. 

"Prowl," Soundwave said calmly.

"Even if you did beat him, you haven't beaten me," the Praxian rose to face off against the Seeker, unintimidated by being so much shorter. "If I command you, he commands you."

Starscream regarded him for a moment, and the tension in the room skyrocketed. There was no way Starscream wasn't at least suspicious of the charade they were playing. He'd seen what had happened. He could tell Megatron now, and everything would be ruined. 

Instead, he popped his claws and crouched defensively. "I'll frag you senseless."

"Only if you can," Prowl folded his doorwings under his roof and brought his claws out. "You're no match for me on the ground."

That made Starscream's wings twitch, but he flung himself forward with a shout, aiming for Prowl's helm. The Praxian went down, tucking under the lunge only to twist and grab an ankle as it came by and used Starscream's momentum to throw him into a wall.

The Seeker gave a startled shriek as he slammed into it, scrambling back up to his pedes in time to see Prowl flying towards him. He threw his arms up over his face protectively and kicked out with a lit thruster to try and make Prowl pay for coming that close. It didn't lessen the impact, but the heat of the grounder's plating was painful when they connected.

How did Prowl stand it?

He blocked a blow to his cockpit and slammed his elbow out to connect with Prowl's neck, hoping to get him on his back where he could use mass and size to keep him down. He did manage to get Prowl to back off for a moment, but nothing close to dropping him. With a clear view he could see how much white plating had been charred, some even melted, and those ice blue optics had gone white with the intensity of the fight.

This was not the place for a Seeker to fight. The ceiling not even twice his height, walls on all six sides, it was a cage and there was no way for the flier to get far enough away from his opponent to even think.

Prowl was on Starscream too fast, working on reflex and tac-net rather than thought. It was enough to make Soundwave flinch inside. His mate was in agony to the point he'd shut down everything that would respond to pain. If this went too much further, Soundwave would have to separate them or risk Prowl's deactivation. This level of code had no survival triggers in an Enforcer. Nothing to stop Prowl from fighting until he was cold and gray.

Luckily, that same intensity quickly grew too much for Starscream to handle, backed up against a wall and running out of movement options by the nanoklik, and then Prowl slammed him down with a running kick to his cockpit, landing him on his back. 

Starscream grunted, then froze, as Prowl lunged on top of him and held a hand to his neck, and held his gaze. 

" _Yesss,_ " Megatron hissed with clear pleasure. 

Nothing in the room moved, no sound but Megatron's revving engines, Soundwave as frozen as the two on the floor. Even their vents had grown quiet. 

And then Starscream's optics flickered, and he looked away, and shuttered them.

"You are mine now," Prowl growled at the Seeker, his grip on neck cabling loosening enough for a clear response.

Starscream shuddered, and his wings gave the faintest twitch of affirmation, as humiliation burned through his field. 

Megatron's triumphant laughter filled the room, only to stop when Prowl let go and stood up. "What is he doing?"

"Prowl: badly damaged. Starscream: damaged. Interfacing: not required for dominance," Soundwave answered as he moved to his leader to assess just how bad the damage was. Scanning the HUD reports waiting in the cue, he relaxed. It looked and felt far worse that it was. He still needed medical care, but even without it he would not extinguish.

"I want him to finish it!" Megatron roared. "Soundwave, make him!" 

The pleading look that Starscream shot Prowl bordered on panic, and Soundwave opened the bond up to let Prowl feel just how intensely Starscream's spark was begging to be spared that humiliation. 

Outwardly, the host faced his former master. "Lord Megatron," he said, bowing. "Soundwave: believes that would be unwise. Your plans: are progressing nicely. Starscream: has been neutralized." He could feel Starscream's pulsing hatred over the bond, the threat that was close to breaking free, and pressed down hard. ~Don't. He'll realize. _Don't._ ~ "Further distress: is not recommended. Hook's presence: is."

"I _will_ see it finished when they are repaired," Megatron rumbled before turning off the vidscreen.

"So long as it's later," Prowl allowed himself to waver under the pressure of all the warnings and damage reports he'd pushed aside. "Is Hook coming?"

"Affirmative," Soundwave said, after sending off a ping. He knelt down and took Prowl's face in his hands, then kissed him softy. If Megatron was watching, it would appear to be a gestalt leader praising a member of his team. In reality, it was Soundwave pledging to his leader's service.

~Ask him what submission will be least humiliating that Megatron will accept,~ Prowl focused on plans to avoid thinking of the pain even as he accepted Soundwave's support with a flare of warmth and pride that the host was his. More than ever, Soundwave felt that Prowl saw him as _worthy_. Worthy as a mate, as a soldier, as an asset, as a mecha.

Soundwave nodded, and a moment later Prowl saw the shocked look that Starscream sent his way from the spot against the wall where he had crawled. 

~He suspects a trick,~ Soundwave said a moment later, with a small wince. 

Prowl rolled his optics and flicked a quick series of comments, part reassurance and part 'give one or I'll choose' warnings with his doorwings.

Starscream's wings canted rudely and he glared at Prowl. 

~He will accept being on his back,~ Soundwave said, clearly not looking forward to that task any more than the Seeker was.

Prowl canted his understanding directly to Starscream. ~None of us are. Don't be too surprised if I have to fake the overload.~

Starscream looked at him with a glower. ~Good,~ he said, and Prowl heard his voice through Soundwave as the host connected them. 

~Megatron will expect us both to take you, undoubtedly,~ Soundwave said. ~It is the safest option.~

Starscream hissed, his wings rattling in threat.

~You will,~ Prowl insisted with his doorwings. ~Even if I have to force you down for it.~

~What, _exactly_ , do I gain from playing along with this charade?~ Starscream demanded. ~Why don't I expose you to Megatron?~

~Leadership of the Decepticons when he's deactivated,~ Prowl offered simply.

Starscream narrowed his optics and tilted his head. ~Very well,~ he said, and refused to talk or interact any further until Hook arrived, not that his gestalt-mates tried very hard.

* * *

"There," Hook said as he closed up Starscream's cockpit. "Try your best not to break it this time before it's done healing." 

Starscream rolled his optics. "Tell that to Megatron, he's the one who keeps putting me places where it gets broken." 

"How's the gestalt coming along?" Hook asked, turning to Soundwave.

"Progress: acceptable. Prowl: highly compliant. Starscream: ... is Starscream."

Hook snorted. "Ain't that the truth." 

"Frag you," Starscream said. "Hey, Hook, give Lord Megamoron a message for me."

"Give it to me yourself," Megatron said, face appearing on the vid screen. Starscream's wings jerked up and he snarled. 

"Lord Megatron," Soundwave said, bowing as Hook retreated from the room. "How may we serve?"

"You will finish what you started, both of you," Megatron commanded.

Prowl moved without hesitating. "Is this going to be a fight?" he asked Starscream mildly.

Starscream glared at him, then stood and started to move towards the berth. 

"On the floor," Megatron growled. 

Starscream flinched, stopped, and sat down, back to Prowl and the vid screen with Megatron's looming face.

The Praxian walked up to him, around wide wings and gave the Seeker a push hard enough to tip him to his back so long as he didn't stop the fall. He went down easily, resignation in his field, the earlier humiliation burning beneath it but no longer overwhelming. And--arousal, Prowl was startled to suddenly teek. 

It must have shown in his wings, because Starscream hissed at him.

With a small shake of his helm Prowl knelt between Starscream's legs and forced his spike to pressurize. "Open," he ordered as his fingers pressed to the valve cover, trying to put on the right display.

Starscream glared, then obeyed, turning his helm away. As Prowl moved closer and over, he drew his legs back. 

" _Excellent_ ," Megatron hissed with delight.

Soundwave, though he showed nothing, was acutely aware of just how sick this was making Prowl, of the level of twisting of his coding it took for Prowl to press his spike into Starscream, and that the shaking and low moans were of pain, not pleasure as the Praxian thrust.

~I'm not going to break!~ Starscream snapped after half a klik, and Soundwave opened his gestalt mates to each other. ~For frag's sake.~

~Excuse me for having difficulty committing a _high crime_ for the sake of survival,~ Prowl snarled back.

~High crime? Interfacing with a Decepticon is a _high crime?_ Haven't you already done that a dozen times now?~

~Rape, Starscream,~ Prowl sighed. ~Rape is a high crime for an Enforcer. Tell me when he's seen enough,~ he directed more at Soundwave.

Soundwave sighed and nodded, and Starscream stared at him, at a loss for words. 

Prowl lowered his helm and focused on his task, trying to block everything else out and focus on the physical stimulation of his spike in a too-dry valve. It help, a little, that Starscream was so much larger than he was. It saved him from causing damage as he thrust, knowing that he'd never overload. When he heard the first low moan, he looked up, saw Starscream's fingers flexing into the ground. Lubricant suddenly coated his spike. 

Megatron started laughing, making Starscream's wings flinch as they were both forcefully reminded of the warlord's gaze.

It was Prowl who growled. Even though he carefully didn't look at Megatron, none of his gestalt mates had any doubt it was directed at Megatron.

~Try to ignore him,~ Starscream said, and rolled his hips into Prowl, drawing a fresh round of delighted cackling. Prowl nodded faintly, his frame still tense as he worked, shifting his focus to a new goal: to overload Starscream. At least one of them could enjoy it, and it didn't seem like it would be that hard to do. Now that he was warmed up and lubricated, Starscream was actually responding. The only time he flinched or was pulled out of his enjoyment was when Megatron got too loud. The rest of the time...

Soundwave's disgust with the display came through clearly, and Prowl heard Starscream snarl back at him.

The entire event was just confusing to Prowl, and he did his best to block them all out. This was hard enough without dragging in cultural standards that he couldn't grasp on a good orn. If he thought too much about it now, he'd likely get locked in a logic loop and crash. The slick slide was working on his frame though, building his charge as it built Starscream's. It was the last thing he wanted to happen, and he retreated further, repeating to himself what he'd been trained to tell rape survivors: it's only a frame. It's built and coded to respond.

It helped just enough that he could keep going.

Finally, to his relief, Starscream overloaded, frame bowing up and field flaring out with bliss. Megatron roared his approval over the screen, and that was enough to sour the rest of the charged release. 

"Get off me," Starscream hissed at Prowl, the shame coming back into his field.

Prowl was more than happy to comply, backing off and retracting his spike as he tried to keep how sick this made him to himself. He watched Soundwave move to take his place and hurried to the washrack, desperate to scrub himself clean. He knew it wouldn't help, that it wouldn't clean away what he had done, but at least he could be rid of the evidence on his frame.

He had a painful defrag coming up. He just hoped he could hold everything together long enough to get out. He tried to block out the sounds coming from his gestalt mates, Megatron's laughter, Starscream's sudden shriek and the roar of Soundwave's engines. 

What had he been pulled into?


	5. Setting Plans into Motion

It took the better part of an orn for Prowl to set up the exceptions for Starscream that he'd set up for Jazz. Illogical was expected, and that it was not to be studied too much. He was grateful that no one bothered him during that time where he remained motionless, curled up on the berth with his knees under his bumper and his back to the wall. When he focused on the outside world, little had changed. Starscream was still sitting at the door, and Soundwave was in the corner, meditating, or perhaps just thinking. Most likely he was performing as many of his regular duties as he could without being physically present.

He was a little surprised to have not seen any of the cassettes yet, though it was entirely possible that they'd snuck in to be with their host at some point and he'd missed it. Even Rumble and Frenzy could be sneaky when they had reason enough, and Ravage was a functional definition of the glyph.

He focused on the bond in his spark and pulsed it to get the host's attention.

Soundwave lifted his helm and looked over. ~How are you?~ he asked immediately. 

~Better. I have installed the necessary exceptions so Starscream's issues will not distress me quite as much. It is time to focus on getting out of this cell and into the general population.~

Soundwave perked with interest. ~Do you have any ideas? What do you hope to do once you have freedom?~

~You know Megatron well. What will he want to see and hear before he believes that you have control of us?~ Prowl focused on the more important question. ~I intend to end the war.~

~He will want strategy against the Autobots from you, innovation from Starscream,~ Soundwave said. ~He will want victory on the battlefield.~

~Before we are out?~ Prowl quirked an optic ridge. ~How am I to plan or Starscream to build without information and supplies?~

Soundwave tilted his helm. ~Can you not plan from a desk? Starscream can design from one, and send designs on to Shockwave.~

Prowl nodded his comprehension of the expectation and how it differed from his original expectation. ~How long will his patience hold?~

Soundwave sighed. ~He is not known for his patience,~ he said. ~Perhaps a few metacycles before his impatience manifests physically?~

~Does it need to be a battlefield victory? Would a solid plan to gain energon work?~ Prowl asked, carefully reviewing what he was willing to give in order to get himself out of here.

~Battlefield,~ Soundwave said firmly, then paused. ~Alternative: capture of an officer.~

Prowl hummed and thought about that for a while. ~Would he accept Blaster as a valuable officer? He's Earth's comms mech and has top security clearance. Though he'd require your presence to interrogate. Would he take you out of here to do that?~

~Likely,~ Soundwave said. ~I am trusted, you are not.~

Prowl nodded. ~He only needs to trust you for now. Does Starscream know what's expected of him to get out?~

~To create and invent? Likely,~ Soundwave said. ~Megatron is hoping your influence will calm him, and that his passion will excite you. He believes that combined you will be a powerful tool.~

~Likely, just not for him,~ Prowl agreed as his attention shifted to Starscream. ~Besides a beating, does anything get through to him?~

~He craves respect?~ Soundwave mused. ~Unknown.~

Prowl chuckled, earning a glare from Starscream. ~That falls in with what I know. Since we are being watched, having you give us verbal orders to do what Megatron wishes would be appropriate.~

Soundwave inclined his helm and stood, first turning to Starscream. "Starscream: will begin to design plans for a weapon for Lord Megatron's pleasure. Designs: will be submitted to Shockwave within the decaorn." 

Starscream rolled his optics. 

Soundwave looked at Prowl. "Prowl: will design a plan to sufficiently damage or undermine the Autobots as a first step towards victory." 

Prowl played his role flawlessly, tensing sharply and growling at his apparent gestalt leader before settling. "I'll need current tactical data, personnel files for the Decepticon forces involved and datapads."

Soundwave nodded and sent off a ping to Shockwave for the request, certain that the incredibly loyal mech would have it run through Megatron first. He turned his gaze to Starscream. "Well? Starscream: will respond to his orders." 

"Tch. Yeah, whatever. Datapads, I guess." The Seeker shrugged.

Soundwave upped the requested number of datapads. "Query: time required."

Starscream shrugged. 

Soundwave was on him a sparkbeat later, grabbing one wing and wrenching it. The Seeker gave a startled squawk and punched back, but Soundwave held on. "Starscream: _will_ give the time required."

Starscream hissed at him. 

Prowl was there to grab the other wing and yanked Starscream down to his optic level with a dangerous growl. "You will answer Soundwave."

Starscream glared back, then looked away. "Three decaorns," he muttered sullenly. 

Prowl flicked his doorwings in acceptance and let go, as did Soundwave.

"The sooner you learn to behave, the sooner you can fly again," Prowl pointed out more reasonably.

"I fear I won't be flying again," Starscream sighed dramatically, hand going to his forehelm. "No, I have accepted my fate. Megatron is going to leave me in here to starve to death." 

"Starscream: will not starve," Soundwave rumbled, genuinely distressed by the thought.

"He likes to torture you too much to let you gray," Prowl snorted and turned to settle on the berth again. "He values Soundwave too much as well."

"Ooh, now there's a thought..." Starscream mused, and got a sharp smack on the back of his helm for it. "Ow!" 

"Starscream: will be serious," Soundwave commanded. 

"Stuck in here with the two most _boring_ mecha to ever be sparked, starving to death," Starscream said. "I always wondered how the end would be."

"You'll find out soon enough," Prowl shrugged. "You won't be ready for it either."

Starscream flattened his wings and gave Prowl a sullen glare. "You wouldn't kill me."

"Of course not," Prowl snorted. "You're kindled. Deactivation always comes too quickly for your kind, and you're never ready for it."

Starscream opened his mouth, then closed it, and frowned. "What is _that_ supposed to mean?"

"You're kindled. We're sparked. We're not really the same species," Prowl shrugged. "Nothing in common at all beyond being mechanical with a spark."

Starscream turned around. "No, that coming too quickly thing," he said. "I already _know_ you're a pair of drones."

"If you aren't ready to deactivate, then it has come too soon. Kindled mecha are never ready to deactivate," Prowl repeated.

"What, and you are?" Starscream scoffed.

"Affirmative," Prowl and Soundwave said in unison.

"Sparked mecha are created to deactivate performing our function," Prowl said easily. "We exist until the city tells us not to."

Starscream eyed them both. "Well no wonder you were so oppressed," he said. "Have some fragging _spirit._ Care about your life! Don't you have anything you would be sad to leave behind?"

"Negative," Prowl shook his head while Soundwave simply stated it.

"Grief is for the living. The deactivated have no such concerns," Prowl added. "I grieve for those who extinguished as we should have. I grieve outliving my city and function. I grieve that I failed them and that I failed my mission to end the war for so long. I will never grieve not seeing another orn."

Starscream shook his helm. "Great. Gestalt bound to mecha with no survival instinct. This is going to end _so_ well."

"Likely," Prowl agreed as he settled in with a bookfile to pass the time until supplies arrived.

* * *

An orn into their suitable projects, Starscream snarled at his current datapad.

"What's wrong?" Prowl asked politely.

"Nothing's wrong!" Starscream snapped at him.

"You're snarling for a reason," Prowl countered.

"Well then stop listening."

"Very well," Prowl shrugged a doorwing and turned his attention to his own work.

Starscream glared at him, then threw the datapad down in disgust. After a moment, when Prowl didn't engage, he gave a dramatic sigh. "It's just that I can already tell you that _Lord_ Megatron will manage to break anything I create for him. It's like trying to design a sparkling-proof missile, I swear to Primus. There is no point to this."

"Prowl: deactivated audio sensors as requested," Soundwave offered.

"He _what?!_ " 

Soundwave winced. "Soundwave: wishes he had done the same," the host muttered, before getting up and retreating into the washrack. 

Starscream growled after him before standing up and moving into Prowl's line of vision, glaring at the Praxian, hands on his hips.

No reaction.

 _Stop being a glitch!_ he flicked with his wings, knowing full well the Praxian had seen every word and movement with his doorwing sensors.

"I only did as you suggested," Prowl countered as he finally looked up. "What do you need?"

Starscream scowled at him. "If you're going to ask me what's wrong, you need to keep your fragging audials on if you want to hear an answer!"

"Then do not tell me to stop listening, as I will," Prowl replied evenly. "I have no use for your contradictory, drama-laden methods. Learn to speak directly or accept being ignored."

Starscream stared at him, wings twitching, then scoffed and waved his hand dismissively. " _As_ I was saying before you so _rudely_ began to ignore me, the problem with designing _anything_ for that moron is that he will undoubtedly find some way to destroy it. I have a dozen outlines and none of them are going anywhere because they can't be sparkling proofed."

"Then don't design something he'd use. Design something useful to him instead," Prowl suggested with a shrug, playing it off as the most obvious thing in the universe to do.

"Like a gun to shoot himself in the face with?" Starscream mused.

"I wish he was that stupid, but we both know he isn't," Prowl chuckled. "Perhaps geothermal energon generators for near the Nemesis."

Starscream's wings flicked, then he tilted his head at Prowl, and then his optics widened before he dove back to his datapads, snatching up the closest one and deleting everything that had been on it.

~Prowl handled Starscream well,~ Soundwave reached out to his leader.

~Thank you. He needs something _useful_ to do with all that energy,~ Prowl's response was filled with pleasure at a troublemaker bent to a useful task and that Soundwave approved. Leader of the gestalt or not, Prowl still desired approval as much as anyone.

Soundwave smiled at him through their sparks, musing in the background about how ineffectively Megatron had utilized Starscream's energy and enthusiasm. ~Creative encouragement will be much more effective than abuse,~ he said dryly, sidling over to the Praxian.

~That is what I have long believed. Punishment, when needed, should be creative and suit both crime and criminal,~ Prowl leaned into the closeness and brought up some of his more memorable punishments. There were the things Soundwave expected, the ones that were often talked about. Ordering the twins to wash the enlisted washracks with the smallest brushes Prowl could find for a prank that involved paint coming out of the faucets, and one where he'd locked all the reports Jazz owed Prowl to Jazz's frame until they were finished. But there were also one when he'd ordered Sunstreaker to repair the rec-room and 'make it attractive' for a fit that left holes in the walls but no damaged mecha. Other times he'd been known to magnetize brawling mecha back to back and force them to help Wheeljack organize his lab. It created immediate and high effective communication. No one ever wanted to cause anything to be dropped in there.

Soundwave chuckled as he leaned in to touch their forehelms together. ~Prowl: is highly creative,~ he praised, and he liked knowing that he worked for such a mecha now.

It caused Prowl to purr, not just for the praise, but also for knowing that Soundwave liked how he thought.

~Prowl has had a regrettably high number of reasons to be so,~ he murmured and leaned into the intimate touch that meant so much more to these mecha who were fixated on their intellects than it was to most mecha. ~How do you control your twins?~

~Carefully,~ Soundwave hummed. ~I have the power to control their frames if I want to, but that wouldn't make our relationship functional. I give them leeway, missions to burn off the energy, and redirect them if they are being troublesome rather than ordering them to stop. In many cases, I let them act as they wish and suffer the consequences of that. They are capable of independent and informed decisions, as little as they choose to make them.~

~Sounds like some of my mecha,~ Prowl chuckled as they shifted to lean shoulder to arm. ~Likely how we need to handle Starscream. He seems quite eager and willing to do what is needed if presented in a desirable way. Such a needy being though.~

~Attention, praise, respect,~ Soundwave ticked through the Seeker's primary wants, then sighed. ~To be fair, he has had very little of any one of those, much less all three, in a long time.~ A strange twinge came over the sparkbond, the oddity of wanting to say anything _fair_ about _Starscream,_ warring with the new code-driven need to defend him.

~He rarely gives it even to you,~ Prowl nuzzled him with a sense of how wrong he found that. ~Good leaders earn respect by giving it.~

~Yes,~ Soundwave hummed. ~That is true.~ He watched the Seeker for a few moments. ~Megatron ... is not a good leader,~ he said slowly, the thought hard for him. 

~No,~ Prowl gave a soft sigh. ~It would be much easier if he was. If he held to what he said was his goal. That would have changed so much about the war. It's numbing to realize what that one small change would have produced~

Soundwave nodded, and wrapped his arms around Prowl, guiding the smaller mech to lay down with him. Prowl willingly moved with the prompt, more than content to lay close to his gestalt mate and settle into the feeling of being cared for. He looked over carefully and saw that Starscream had noticed, and was chewing on his lip as he watched them, and then the Seeker shook himself and buried himself back in his work.

* * *

It was three orns after Prowl handed in the plan to capture Blaster that the door opened again, causing Starscream to snarl at the intrusion to his workspace without even seeing who was there.

"Soundwave. Come," Megatron's rumble was pleased.

Starscream's snarl deepened into a growl as his helm shot up and his wings lifted in a threat display. 

"Starscream: still," Soundwave said. 

The growl softened, and after a long moment, the wings lowered, but Starscream kept his optics on Megatron until the warlord had gone from sight. 

"Yes, my Lord?" Soundwave asked as they stepped into the hall. 

"Prowl's plan worked. The Autobot is here for you to interrogate," Megatron rumbled his pleasure.

Soundwave perked up immediately. That was all part of Prowl's plan, exactly as predicted. "Yes, my Lord," he said. "Soundwave: looks forward to extracting data for his Lord's pleasure."

"Good, good, I know you will," Megatron said with a gleeful edge as they walked to the interrogation room set up inside the base.

Soundwave stepped inside and caught the full brunt of Blaster's telepathic gift, one even stronger than his, though Soundwave was fully capable of blocking him.

He still felt the frustration. Blaster wanted to know why he was here and what they wanted with him. He pummeled against Soundwave's blocks, demanding answers, demanding to know what had happened to Prowl.

~Stop. I will tell.~ Soundwave forced the thought through. He watched as Blaster gave him a wary look, but the other telepath backed off so their minds met in the more neutral realm between their frames. ~Prowl is healthy. Forced to gestalt-bond and spark bond with Soundwave, and gestalt bond with Starscream. Plan: did not work according to Megatron's desires. Prowl: leads the gestalt.~

Blaster stared at him, head tilted a bit. ~Ya serious?~ he asked, and let Soundwave feel his complete and utter disbelief in that. ~Ya grindin' my gears here.~

~Negative. Soundwave serves Prowl now,~ the dark host allowed the truth of it to show as best he could without leaving himself too vulnerable. ~Prowl is a good leader. We ... expect to defect, when we are free to move.~

Blaster's optics widened, then he looked around himself, and seemed to remember that he was chained up in Shockwave's control. He made a sudden show of flinching away from Soundwave, crying out as he did. ~Let me hear 'im,~ he thought calmly while he did. ~Said ya spark bonded, so drop ya walls and let me in and talk to him.~

There was a wavering moment and Blaster made a show of struggling, then suddenly stilled as the barriers carefully dropped.

~Prowl: unaccustomed to this,~ Soundwave warned.

~Yeah yeah whatever, he's a smart mech,~ Blaster said as he surged into Soundwave's mind. It was a level of invasion that Soundwave had only ever used on captive Autobots before, and they generally fought it. He wasn't fighting at all. The other telepath pressed until he could have access to anything he wanted, and the voice now seemed to come from inside Soundwave's core. ~Never tried this, not sure how it'll work. Make him talk.~

Blaster heard through the echo into Soundwave's mind as the bond was nudged and then the clear presence that could be no one other than Prowl was there.

~Soundwave is telling the truth,~ Prowl pressed the thought through the bond. ~The gestalt, plans, all of it. Make him look good, but nothing critical. I want an army left when I get back.~

~Far out, mech,~ Blaster said. ~Hey what do ya turn into? Was he bein' serious about _Screamer?_ ~

~We don't know. We haven't tried yet. Yes, Starscream is part of the gestalt and bonded to Soundwave, though not me. Megatron intended Soundwave to control us both. It did not work out as he intended,~ Prowl explained.

~Tell me about it,~ Blaster said. ~What an idea! Old Buckethead's got a few leaks in all the wrong places. Maybe Jackie can shake out a few 'dead' 'Bots to throw at 'em, make him feel better about his progress.~

~That would be useful. I wouldn't object to a rescue, but not at the cost of lives. We will get out. Eventually,~ Prowl instructed.

~Gotcha,~ Blaster said. ~Right, I think Megs can probably hear about that mine we found. Even if they raid it for everything it's got it won't do much. Looks huge, though. Hey Sounders, if you could tell him right before I get outta here that would be great.~

~Affirmative,~ Soundwave agreed. ~Are you done?~ he asked, the strain showing in his awareness to both of the others involved.

~What, ya don't like bein' cozy? Yeah, I'm done,~ Blaster said, and drew back. Soundwave felt him settle firmly in his own frame again, and then the red host's engines growled. "I'm not tellin' ya anything!"

"Blaster: will submit," Soundwave countered evenly. "Options: none."

In response, Blaster gave a smug smirk, and started playing the loudest music he could.

* * *

Soundwave didn't have to fake the exhaustion as he returned to his quarters with his gestalt after "interrogating" Blaster. The mech had obviously enjoyed Soundwave not being allowed to really do anything to him, and had been purposefully obnoxious and painful with his telepathic lashing back. 

But Soundwave had intel to give to Megatron when the time was right, so at least it had been worth something. 

He walked in and looked around, and then pulled up short when he saw his felinoid cassette in the room, on the berth with Prowl. She was curled along Prowl's leg, one paw on his leg, the other on his abdominals next to her head, and Prowl was stroking her.

"They've been like that since you left," Starscream said absently.

"Ravage," Soundwave said sternly. "Cassettes: are not permitted in here. Ravage: knows that." 

She looked at him, and opened her mouth in a giant yawn before settling right back down.

"Why aren't they allowed in?" Prowl asked with an easy curiosity, his hand still stroking Ravage.

"They are proven to be chaotic," Soundwave said as he walked over, frowning at his purring cassette. "Lord Megatron: wishes no distractions from our work, or vulnerabilities to my leadership." 

Starscream glanced over. "So if I kick the kitty, can I be leader?"

"Kick the kitty and I'll tear your wings off," Prowl growled at him, which only caused Ravage to purr more deeply.

Soundwave sighed, rubbing the back of his helm. "Ravage: may stay for now," he said, trying to make it seem as though it was his idea. 

She snickered a little, seeing right through him. Soundwave reached out to tweak her ear in mild reprimand and only got swatted for his trouble. 

"How about one of the twins?" Starscream asked.

"Just don't expect us to protect you from the fallout," Prowl shrugged. "Even I know they're nasty pranksters."

Starscream shrugged his wings. "As long as it's not you or Soundwave caring." 

Soundwave sat down next to Prowl and leaned against him. ~Blaster had some good ideas for what to tell Megatron.~

~Good,~ Prowl leaned into the contact, content to be in Soundwave's field and his plans moving forward. ~I knew he would have something that looked good but wasn't too important to give up. He's a difficult one to interrogate?~ 

~Very,~ Soundwave admitted. ~His telepathic gift is more powerful than mine, and he seemed to delight in my not being able to truly interrogate him.~ He paused. ~It is fair.~

~It's fair?~ Prowl asked curiously.

~For all the times I have pushed him to the full extent of my capabilities,~ Soundwave said. ~The process is not pleasant.~

~No, it isn't,~ Prowl agreed with a shudder from memories of the times he'd been on the receiving end of one 'path or the other.

~Blaster interrogated you?~ Soundwave didn't hide his shock.

~In preparation for the orn I might face you,~ Prowl explained. ~Jazz did much the same.~

Soundwave nodded. ~Wise decisions. If we defect successfully, how will we be received by the Autobots?~

~Uneasily, I expect. Defectors face a hard road to acceptance from the rank and file. Officers should be more agreeable, once Jazz, Blaster and Ratchet are sure of our intentions.~

Soundwave could only nod again. It was what he had expected. ~Gestalt coding has proven to be extremely powerful,~ he mused, wondering if it was strengthened by his original compliance coding, of it was just that effective.

~Agreed, though I admit little surprise,~ Prowl hummed. ~Between Motormaster not crippling any of his team and the Combaticons putting up with Vortex and Swindle, there has to be something potent to it. Especially with Motormaster. Mech's little more than violent hate given a frame.~

Soundwave's agreement with that was clear as they both settled into a relaxed snuggle while Prowl continued to work plotting and they both kept a passive but watchful optic on their more high strung gestalt mate.


	6. Walking Free

Soundwave began to rouse when he sensed _intent_ in the field and mind against his, but as the intent was not violent, angry or subversive, he continued to boot normally. As his frame sensations came consciously on line, a moan escaped his vocalizer at the light touch circling over his spike cover. He rocked into it, pressing up, and brought his visual systems online to look at Prowl. He made sure to add an extra rev to his engines as they kicked up, in case Megatron was watching.

White fingers slid out and down to tease at inner hip joints and Prowl's lip plates and then glossa took over teasing the cover.

"Good," Soundwave murmured, and brought his hands to rest on Prowl's helm. He stroked his thumb up the length of one chevron, pulling his legs up and back to give him more room before his cover unlatched. 

Prowl's glossa was warm as it pressed to the tip of his spike, swirling around gently, coaxing Soundwave into full arousal. The host hummed happily. "Prowl: is very good," he praised. He felt the smile against his spike, but it was far stronger in the mind and field against his. Prowl was pleased that Soundwave was happy, but Prowl also honestly enjoyed this. It was enough to make Soundwave's processor ache if he thought about it too much. Instead he shunted it to the background and focused on the physical pleasure as his spike disappeared between silvery-white lip plates. He finished extending a few kliks later, and after that, sprawled lazily to enjoy the feeling of being freshly booted with someone attending to him. It wasn't a feeling he was familiar with, and he might as well take the time to really enjoy it. The idea from Prowl's mind that this might happen often sent a thrill through Soundwave's systems.

One hand continued to pet Prowl's helm as he hummed, drinking in the quickly building pleasure. If this was what being an Autobot meant ... to be pleasured and have the one doing the pleasuring enjoy it ... it wasn't a bad philosophy.

His spike hit back of Prowl's throat and he groaned. No, not a bad philosophy at all. 

He overloaded after a while, enjoying the morning laziness, the relaxed air to the entire thing, and hummed happily when Prowl pulled off with the feel and teek of one pleased with himself and what he'd done.

Prowl slid forward and relax against Soundwave's side. ~Just how much does Starscream hate us?~

~He hates everyone,~ Soundwave said. ~Though I believe he possibly hates us slightly less.~

Prowl mulled over that for a time. ~Is that why he's still fighting the code?~

~He values independence. He would see joining with us as weakness.~

Prowl looked over at the working Seeker. ~Does he _want_ to be with us?~

Soundwave mulled over the question, picking apart Prowl's intentions as he did. ~He does not want to be in a gestalt,~ he said. ~Now that he is, he _does_ want to be in contact with us, but is fighting it.~

~Will he accept it given time?~ Prowl asked as he mulled over limited options, none of which settled with him well.

~Undoubtedly,~ Soundwave said. ~If nothing else, he will eventually fall into stasis at which point we may refuel him and give him no choice in the matter.~

Prowl couldn't help but twitch at the idea of his gestalt mate, his unit mate, dropping into stasis. It wasn't acceptable. No good solutions. No acceptable solutions.

~We could force him to sit with us?~ Soundwave suggested. 

Prowl gave another look at Starscream, who was now looking at them with an uneasy angle to his wings and scowl marring what could be quite attractive features.

The Praxian jerked as he caught up with that last thought, and shuddered at the complex implications. This was the mech who'd lead the air assault on Praxus, and Prowl thought him _attractive_ and was trying to help him.

It was so twisting his entire post-Praxus logic trees that it was painful.

Soundwave brushed a concerned field against him, and rubbed the center joint of his doorwings. ~We are gestalt now,~ he said.

~Yes, and he is still one who destroyed Praxus. I am still a Praxian Enforcer. I continue only to avenge my city. Now I am gestalt with a mecha I am coded to see destroyed.~ Prowl struggled to explain the way his conflicting coding was hurting him.

Soundwave nodded and pushed his understanding over. For him, the gestalt code had easily overtaken his loyalty to Megatron; he'd been created to be loyal, but not for any specific master. For Prowl, it was harder. ~I will be a neutral party between you,~ he said.

Thanks, gratitude, echoed back as Prowl continued to struggle with the conflict. It took several kliks, but in time he settled both to their corners and the unhappy reality that neither could have what they wanted. Prowl's frame relaxed with a soft shudder in relief and he turned back to more important issues.

~We need to make him _look_ like he's integrated and as subservient to you as he is to anyone. Start with forcing him to be in the berth while we recharge?~ Prowl suggested.

~I will do that,~ Soundwave said. ~He will be easy to bring over. He has been worrying about his energon levels. When should I start, tonight?~

~Yes, tonight,~ Prowl affirmed. ~I want out of this cage almost as badly as he must. Praxians are not designed to be still for so long.~

Soundwave tilted his head. ~But you are known to sit immobile for orns on end,~ he said. 

~Only for my function,~ Prowl explained in correction. ~Even so, it is unpleasant at best. I'm built to _drive_ the same way a Seeker is built to fly.~

~Interesting,~ Soundwave said, a surge of determination coming across the bond that he would do whatever he could to get Prowl back on his tires soon.

The shiver that quivered Prowl's doorwings held Starscream's attention rapt for a lingering moment.

~Just what did you promise him?~ the Seeker demanded with a stronger than needed push over the bond with Soundwave.

~To take him out as a show for the supposed leash I have him on,~ Soundwave explained. ~To further prove to Megatron I have control over you both.~

~He gets to go out but I don't?~ Starscream's thoughts rose to a shriek of outrage as his wings and frame began to rattle.

~He needs calming down,~ Prowl said dryly from the other side. ~What does that best, that we have access to?~

Soundwave snorted. ~A spike,~ he said, regarding the Seeker. ~You are not trustworthy enough,~ he said to Starscream, and opened his spark so his gestalt mates would be able to hear and speak to each other. 

The growls exchanged were more genuine than Soundwave would have liked, but neither were out to cause damage.

~Then he needs to be spiked, if that does not distress you,~ Prowl directed at Soundwave, but made no effort to hide it from Starscream.

~You keep the frag away from me, both of you,~ Starscream snarled. 

~It does not distress me,~ Soundwave said calmly as he stood, looking at Starscream. ~If you come here the berth will be more comfortable.~

Starscream glared at him.

~Very well,~ Soundwave said, going over to him instead. 

The Seeker scrambled to his pedes and flared his wings, only to feel more than see Prowl's glare. Wings dropped, but he stepped took the single step back until he could go no further.

With the bond wide open through Soundwave, Prowl could feel and even hear what the host did, and it was full of the Seeker's desire.

Soundwave stepped close, bringing his knuckles against Starscream's jaw and stroking lightly, tilting his head as if to lean in for a kiss, but doing no more than that. He waited there, teasing with his field, until they both heard the valve cover unlatch. Starscream turned his head away with a sigh, then offlined his optics and slid his leg up to hook around Soundwave's hip.

The host sank into him with a pleasured rumble, moving slowly until he was deep inside and Starscream surrendered a sigh of pleasure.

"Soundwave!" The bark came from the vid screen. Soundwave hid his flinch, Starscream didn't. "Bring him where I can see him better." It was Megatron, face looming over them. 

"Yes, Lord Megatron," Soundwave said, simultaneous with Starscream's objecting shriek. The Seeker was soon over the arm of the couch, giving Megatron a perfect view of their connecting interface arrays as Soundwave began to pound harder.

~Frag you,~ Starscream hissed to Soundwave, but he arched up with a moan. He grabbed hold of the couch padding and kneaded at it. ~Frag, if you're going to do that, at least do it _well,_ ~ he complained, only to screech and flare his wings as Soundwave thrust in with full force.

~Starscream: will become accustomed to me,~ Soundwave insisted with a low moan at the slick slide and clenching valve. Not nearly as tight as Prowl's, but still very pleasurable to be inside.

~Shut up,~ Starscream said, as Megatron laughed gleefully in the background. ~Now I know why you made your cassettes so little. Wanted something that actually felt tight around that finger you call a spike!~

~Stop insulting me or you will not overload.~ Soundwave warned. ~Behavior: unacceptable.~

Starscream saw right through that, and hid his smirk against the couch so Megatron wouldn't see it. ~This is how I always behave,~ he said. ~But _Prowl_ doesn't like it, does he. Tell me why I care.~

~Prowl is our leader.~ Soundwave stated, which was reason enough for him. ~You desire respect. You must give it to receive it,~ he tried something that Starscream might understand.

~I have yet to spot a noticeable difference between this leader and the last one,~ Starscream snarled, fully intending that Prowl should hear it. 

~Would Megatron have ever asked you for geothermic energon production?~ Soundwave asked calmly. 

White wings twitched up a bit, and then Starscream groaned when Soundwave struck forward. 

"Make him scream," Megatron hissed. "Show how much he loves it. I have the entire crew watching, Starscream, you always made such good entertainment." 

Soundwave felt the Seeker's spark clench and fracture, and the next shake through his wings came with a wave of disgust and burning, protective **hate** from Prowl.

Soundwave didn't dare stop. He held tightly to Starscream's hips as he drove into him, trying his best to make them both overload. He could feel Prowl's rage and distaste and it made the entire experience miserable. 

Finally, Starscream screamed into the padding and seized up, both of his legs curling up as he overloaded. Soundwave was relieved to feel the sudden surge trigger his own overload, and when it was all over, he looked up at Megatron. "My Lord: is satisfied?" he asked. 

"Very satisfied," Megatron said with a deep, rolling laugh as Starscream curled in on himself, wings up to shield himself from the camera's gaze. "Carry on, Soundwave." The screen went black. 

~Bring him here,~ Prowl's tone betrayed nothing of what he was feeling other than concern for a gestalt mate.

~Come,~ Soundwave told Starscream, tugging at him. Starscream snarled and pulled away. ~Prowl commands so,~ Soundwave said firmly, and Starscream glanced over at the Praxian, then after a moment, stood up and walked over. 

He stopped next to the berth, glaring at Soundwave until he was out of arm's reach, then looked at Prowl and the extended white hand.

"Sit between us." Prowl's words could have had the force of command, yet it managed to be as much offer as demand. "It's time you rested for a while."

Starscream wanted to, badly, he could tell that much. But he was still resisting. 

~Rest,~ Soundwave said, pulsing the feeling of calmness through his field. ~There is no shame in rest.~

Wings gave a soft rattle, but there was no strength to it. "I suppose if you insist," he said, glancing at Soundwave. 

"Soundwave: commands you," the host said, adding a deep rumble to his voice. 

Starscream nodded and took Prowl's hand, and crawled onto the berth. He was slightly confused by the welcome and warmth in Prowl's field. He was no more ignorant of the Praxian Enforcer's mission-centric grudge against him than Soundwave was, and had known about it far longer. That Prowl could snuggle against him and not exude a psychotic hate was hard to understand.

"Coding," Prowl gave a slight shrug as Soundwave settled on Starscream's other side.

"Ridiculous," Starscream muttered, slumping down and leaning a little against Prowl. 

"Then why do you believe I haven't torn your spark from your mangled frame?" Prowl asked with the kind of ease that was entirely too reminiscent of Megatron's ease with violence for Starscream's comfort.

"Oh, I absolutely agree that coding is the reason we haven't killed each other," Starscream said. "But the entire thing is ridiculous. Being gestalt bonded with _you two_ is ridiculous."

"Then we agree on three things now," Prowl purred, and leaned in to whisper in Starscream's audial. "And eventually, I'll teach you there is no shame in enjoying your valve."

Starscream jumped a little, wings going up. One of them clocked Soundwave in the back of the helm, but Starscream ignored him as he looked at Prowl. "Three?"

~That Megatron must die, as slowly and painfully as possible,~ Prowl rumbled through Soundwave. "That being locked in here is unacceptable."

The corner of Starscream's mouth turned up. "I agree entirely," he purred, accepting the gentle prodding to lie down and let them snuggle against him, one on each side with minimal fussing.

~You will accept energon when we decide to offer it,~ Soundwave said. ~Not now. But when we do.~

~Don't have to do what you say,~ Starscream said.

~Starscream,~ Prowl's rumble was full of exasperation. ~If you want out of this place, you'll behave as if Soundwave is your leader.~

Starscream grumbled and tucked his helm, but didn't argue. 

Soundwave sighed and pressed against his back, feeling himself shift his arm to block Starscream's face from the camera. It was a strange sensation, to care about Starscream's well-being, but he accepted it. 

~Recharge,~ Prowl said, and they both slipped offline.

* * *

Five orns later, Soundwave stood to attention when Megatron's image appeared on the screen. "Lord Megatron. Query: results of gestalt's efforts?"

The pair immediately had both Prowl and Starscream's attention. Prowl's was overt, with a slight angle and shift of his doorwings that displayed a deep desire for approval that both his mates knew was as false as it looked genuine. Starscream hid his desire, but no one was fooled.

"The Autobot escaped," Megatron said. "But not before we were able to capitalize on the knowledge you took from him, Soundwave."

"Soundwave: is pleased intel was valuable."

"Extremely," Megatron said. "We were able to take control over the mine before they even began excavating. It is only a matter of time before we strike the riches they sought. Those weakling Autofools don't dare try to take it back from us." 

"Soundwave: agrees," he said with certainty that was in no small part from knowing that the mine was useless. "Without Prowl: the Autobots are crippled."

Prowl's doorwings gave an unhappy twitch, but he didn't actually object.

"Prowl's contributions: acceptable proof of loyalty?" Soundwave asked.

"Hmm." Megatron regarded the Praxian, who was now looking at Soundwave curiously. "They are certainly in your favor, Prowl." Prowl's attention immediately snapped to the screen. "Tell me how else you plan to further my glory." 

"Securing Cybertron's moons would be my next move. Solidify our control of our homeworld, then launch a unified assault on the forces on Earth once the humans have been eradicated by disease or poison," Prowl suggested.

"Excellent," Megatron said. "Begin drawing up plans immediately." 

Prowl nodded in acceptance of the order.

"My Lord," Soundwave said, dipping his helm. "Soundwave: would like to request time outside with Prowl. His performance: should be rewarded. A healthy spark and mind: will make a better worker."

"I don't trust him that much," Megatron warned.

"Prowl: would not be alone. Soundwave: will be with him, always."

"Hey, what about me?" Starscream demanded. "I did my part. You've got your tech and we both know it works."

"You!" Megatron rumbled, fixing the Seeker with a glare. "You couldn't be trusted at your most loyal." Starscream hissed at him. "No, you will remain here, to ensure that these two return."

"If I'm never getting out of here, you can kiss my cooperation with this farce goodbye," Starscream snarled. "You'll never have _Soundwave_ back either!"

" _Threats_ do not work against me, Starscream," Megatron boomed. "I would have thought you understood that by now. No, you will remain here for this outing, and only once I believe you will lick my pedes when I snap my fingers, will you leave."

"Never!" Starscream snarled right back, only to quiver in outrage but fall silent when Soundwave and Prowl looked at him.

"Starscream: can be controlled, Lord Megatron," Soundwave stated. "Arrangement for Prowl's outing: agreeable. Query: range of trip permissible?"

Megatron waved a hand. "Whatever you are comfortable with, Soundwave. I trust you implicitly."

"Thank you, my Lord. Soundwave: is honored," he bowed to the visual of his former lord with the exact same depth and motion as he always had. "Permission: to leave now?"

Megatron raised an optic ridge, but nodded. "Absolutely," he said. "Take however long you would like, Soundwave."

"Thank you, my Lord," Soundwave turned and motioned Prowl to come with him, a command the Praxian obeyed with an excited waving of his doorwings and the general movements of great anticipation.

Soundwave led him through the facility, aware that Prowl was recording every moment, cataloging and planning with the rare opportunity to see _inside_ the Cybertronian fortress that had resisted the efforts of almost every Autobot spy, saboteur and infiltrator. They came to the surface by way of a lift, looking out over the empty, scarred landscape. For a brief moment, the pair simply stood, taking in a vista neither had seen much of for entirely too long. Both were privately willing to admit that Shockwave had done an exceptional job in securing the planet, even if he'd accomplished little else.

With a shiver Prowl stepped forward, transformed and opened his passenger door for Soundwave to transform and settle into. Behind him, he sensed movement that Soundwave teeked suddenly gleeful about. 

~Do you object to the cassettes riding with us?~ Soundwave asked. ~They can stay docked.~

~No need, unless you prefer them to be,~ Prowl offered graciously. ~I have no problem kicking an unruly one out in the middle of the drive.~

~Give me a chance to dock them before kicking them out, but otherwise agreed,~ Soundwave said, and a moment later five cassettes were clamoring into Prowl's interior, chattering excitedly in a mix of barks, squawks, words and trills. When Soundwave finally settled in the passenger seat, the doors all closed and Prowl was off at the full speed his alt mode was capable of. Inside him, all six riders were drenched in Prowl's unabashed joy at being on rolling wheels again, at the thin atmosphere rushing along his plating and the near-erotic pleasure of the race, even one against nothing.

Ravage climbed right up beneath his front window and curled there, purring deeply and shivering with the thrill of the speed they were moving at. The twins looked out the window and jumped up and down, while the two avians settled on either side of their host. 

~They are enjoying this,~ Soundwave said with a chuckle, and a sense of how much he was, too. 

"Something to do often, then," Prowl rumbled out loud as he twisted in turns and made several short flights off ramps created by nature and war. "It's even better with someone to chase down."

"Perhaps you can show us, when we are with the Autobots," Soundwave said. 

The quenched Prowl's good mood like an ice bath, though it only increased his speed. "There is no racing as an Autobot. Not for me."

"Query ... why?" Soundwave asked, disturbed by both reaction and statement. 

Prowl was silent for a time, surprised at being questioned and trying to remember why this was a truth.

"There is not time, space or anyone to race," he eventually answered.

Racing frames immediately flashed through Soundwave's mind, and into Prowl's. Jazz, Mirage, Sunstreaker, Sideswipe, Bluestreak, Smokescreen.

"They..." Prowl fell silent once more, and even Rumble and Frenzy held quiet for him. Eventually Prowl got it into glyphs he hoped might be enough. "They don't understand."

"Soundwave: will attempt to," the host murmured. "When there is time." 

Prowl's spark pulsed gratefully and Soundwave settled in to enjoy the driving. 

Not two kliks later, _fury-hate-fear_ slammed through the bond from Starscream and Soundwave cringed as he heard the designation that coated all of it. 

_Megatron._

"Megatron: is with Starscream," he told Prowl, opening the bond up.

Prowl swerved slightly as it impacted him, and he realized that he was catching a muted sensation as Starscream was trying to block the bond. ~Support him. Just be steady for him. There. Don't judge, if you can.~

Soundwave made a sound that was like a cross between a sigh and a huff. Prowl could feel him leaving the bond with Starscream open, but not pushing through it. The Seeker wasn't skilled at manipulating the bond, and certainly not against someone of Soundwave's skill and experience, but at least a clear visual wasn't coming through.

Then Prowl was there, ancient coding surging forward to dominate his awareness. It wasn't something Prowl sought to activate, and on a level he knew it was ill-suited to help the Seeker, but it wasn't in the Enforcer not to try and comfort a unit-mate in pain.

Prowl lost track of his steering briefly when that registered and the roiling sickness from it that Soundwave could teek never made it to the bond, much less to Starscream.

"You are a seriously weird mech," Rumble muttered.

Prowl didn't answer, instead concentrating on making his presence felt through Soundwave. Very little was voluntarily offered back, and it came in short bursts when Starscream's concentration lapsed, for one reason or another. It wasn't something that bothered Prowl's coding, though it bothered Prowl, in the part of him that wasn't in crisis management mode.

Nothing really changed for any of them until they felt Starscream's powerful overload surge into Soundwave, and from him into Prowl.

Soundwave shivered, and the cassettes all gasped and groaned as it coursed through them in turn. 

"Good part's over," Frenzy snickered, then grabbed for the door handle as Prowl attempted to recover.

"Now he's just ashamed again," Prowl growled, frustrated at the reaction but furious at Megatron.

" _And_ he's in for a beating," Rumble added. "He really should know better than to hit Megatron like that by now."

Prowl growled in more frustration and came to an unsteady stop. Soundwave closed the bond off to normal levels at more of a sense of desire from Prowl than an actual order. The Praxian's processors and coding was far too tangled up in itself, and the emotional load that Prowl never coped with well, to give an actual order.

~Can I help?~ Soundwave asked, and sharply hushed his cassettes as they continued to react to what Prowl could only assume was a live feed.

~Just ... I just need some time to be still and let it sort itself out,~ Prowl's mental voice was strained. ~The tac-net has a strong dislike of strong emotional input.~

~Understood,~ Soundwave said, and immediately thick walls were up between their sparks, muffling everything. Soundwave and the cassettes all grew absolutely still and silent. Despite being almost completely mute between their sparks, being inside Prowl gave them all a full teek of the distress the emotional surges caused him. It wasn't about what the emotions were, simply that they existed and were strong.

Slowly, gradually, they all felt Prowl begin to settle to his norm, then his teek flattened a bit more, and with a soft sound of relief, became normal once more.

"Was that: an averted glitch?" Soundwave asked.

"Negative," Prowl said as he began to roll again. "My glitch is a reaction to the incomprehensible. Intense emotions are distressing and difficult to process, but will not shut me down."

Soundwave thought about that for a few moments. "Understood," he finally said as they all began to sink into the joyful pleasure of Prowl driving once more. He kept Starscream's portion of the bond closed off to Prowl and instructed his cassettes to keep their responses silent or contained to each other. In another joor Starscream had long since quieted down as Megatron had left and Prowl was feeling normal as he raced along.

He took a random sharp turn, and suddenly a surge of _danger-combat read_ roared into all their fields as Prowl began driving far more erratically.

"Oh great," Frenzy muttered, looking out the window. "Please tell me that wasn't who I think it was." 

"Any Autobot assassination attempts: will be for show only," Soundwave assured his cassettes. "...Probably."

"It depends on who it is and what they know," Prowl said as he jerked sideways to avoid the next shot. "Information would not be widely disseminated to troops. If this one saw any of you inside me and isn't in the loop, it is not for show. Jazz or Mirage would know. Any locals, this is real."

"Can you tell who it is?" Rumble said, climbing into the back and peering out. "I don't see anyone."

"Negative," he jinked again, working his way closer to where the shots were coming from. "I calculate a 99.7% probability it is a local not on a mission to assassinate me. This outing was not planned. This location is not on a route I am known to take. The odds a planned mission for show or real would select this location is astronomical."

"Understood," Soundwave said. "Backup: required?"

"Affirmative," Prowl decided quickly as a shot sliced into his trunk. "It may be a Decepticon shooting if they haven't seen you."

Soundwave started reaching out through his networks, first eliminating the chance of it being any known Decepticons, and then calling for aerial support. The Rainmakers answered and Soundwave opened up the comm channels to Prowl so he could be aware of their location. 

~If it is an Autobot who is genuinely trying to attack, they may need to use lethal force.~

~So be it.~ Prowl responded. ~They should not be shooting at me for real. I have not been designated a deserter or traitor to my knowledge.~

The dodging continued as the roar of Seeker engines approached, and just as quickly the shooting stopped. Prowl didn't still though, as he continued to drive erratically towards the rise where the shots had come from. There was nothing there when he arrived, but no one was surprised. Prowl opened his door and the cassettes poured out, each of them diving in a different direction to hunt out the attacker. Four of them disappeared underground and Buzzsaw flew low over the surface, dodging between wreckage too low and tight for the Seekers. 

While the cassettes did their job, Prowl opened his door for Soundwave to transform out, then transformed and began to scour the area with all the precision that had given him one of the highest conviction rates in Praxian history.

It was about ten kliks later that Soundwave felt Ravage tugging on her bond for his attention, and when he focused, he saw a blue visor shining in the dark, illuminating a grin, with a single finger lifted in front of it.

~He is annoyingly good at times,~ Prowl grumbled when Soundwave shared the image, but under it was relief that this was an intentional show. ~Though it does explain why I survived the first shot.~

~Agreed,~ Soundwave said, watching suspiciously as Jazz held a hand out for Ravage to investigate, then lick. The saboteur's grin widened, and then he melted back into the darkness. 

~I like him,~ Ravage decided. 

~Return,~ Soundwave said sternly. ~Continue your search in a visible manner.~

Her reply was a mixture of agreement and amusement, and Soundwave shifted to call the others out to gradually become visible in their searching. The Seekers were long gone, their target absent, when Prowl sank to the uneven ground and leaned against an upright chunk of rubble. His processors smoothed out, steady, settled, but decidedly morose as he stared into the distance.

Soundwave settled on the ground next to him, the bond open but not pressing, and Ravage jumped up to his shoulder. She bonked his helm and purred deeply. 

~Do you miss being with the Autobots?~ Soundwave asked.

~I miss being useful. I miss knowing I would not hurt anyone when the war ends,~ Prowl responded with as much of an answer as he could. He didn't miss the _Autobots_. He only missed what they represented to him: the best chance he had of fulfilling his duty.

~We will get back to them,~ Soundwave offered tentatively. ~Though the return may be rough.~

~I expect so,~ Prowl sighed and sank forward over his pulled up knees a bit. ~Will any Seekers follow Starscream if he calls on them to defect with him?~

~Possibly...~ Soundwave said. ~His relationship with Thundercracker and Skywarp is complicated. I don't understand it well, much of it takes places where I cannot read them. It would be better to ask him, when he is calm.~

Prowl nodded slightly with a sense that he would, when they were both calm. ~I don't particularly trust him to tell the truth.~

~I will tell you if he isn't,~ Soundwave said. ~He isn't difficult to read. He wants Megatron to fall.~

Prowl chuckled softly, a mixture of amusement and trust in his field. ~He also has an ego the size of Cybertron and difficulty admitting he can't control everything.~

~Bigger than Cybertron,~ Soundwave said, leaning his helm against Prowl's. ~I believe we can return now.~

~Agreed,~ Prowl said, though he was reluctant to get up for several kliks. Soundwave allowed him the time, only standing when Prowl did and transforming into the passenger seat when the door of his opened. The cassettes were quick to climb in and settle, and Prowl was off, racing as hard and fast as before, losing himself in the road and speed.

* * *

Returning to Darkmount was a surreal experience for Prowl, but one he was quickly able to rationalize as the security disarmed before him to let them back inside. He was returning to a cell, yes, but one that he now had some control over. 

They stepped into their room, and Prowl attention was immediately on the Seeker sitting with his back to the far corner, watching them with a low, sullen glare. Wings gouged, optic cracked, lips torn, cockpit fractured. Energon was pooled beneath him. "Have fun?" he rasped, voice staticky and strained.

Prowl scowled, his entire manner changing at the damage of one of _his_. "Why weren't you repaired?" he demanded as he stalked over, doorwings flared with anger before he knelt to assess and repair what he could. That close, Starscream could teek that Prowl was sickened and furious, and it was solidly directed _not at Starscream_.

It stunned the Seeker and for a moment, he didn't answer as he stared at him, then Prowl lifted his wing and Starscream hissed in pain. "Joint's not right," he muttered, flinching as it lowered. 

"Lord Megatron: did not wish him repaired," Soundwave said casually as he came over to join them, as though that fully settled the matter. "For the time present: we will assess and do what we can." 

"Exhaust licker," Starscream sneered.

Prowl's engine growled angrily, but he didn't counter Soundwave in any way that might hint that the host was not in command. In this, it was easy enough at least. It wasn't as if Prowl had any authority outside, or even that Soundwave could have done more if Prowl demanded it. So he focused on repairing what he could and making the rest easier to bear. "You will recharge on the berth and fuel."

Starscream shrugged in acceptance of that, trying to look as flippant about it as he could, but he did hold still as Prowl worked. After a few breems, there was a ping at the door to warn of someone's arrival and Starscream snarled in its direction, scrambling back. 

"It is supplies," Soundwave chastised him as he stood. "Starscream: should be more grateful for gifts from our Lord and master."

"Did I already call you an exhaust licker?"

"Hush," Prowl said, tweaking his wingtip. "And hold still." 

Soundwave greeted Acid Storm at the door and accepted the supplies--a range of medics' tools, parts, and energon--before returning and setting them next to Prowl. Neither of them were medics, or even medical aids, but between Soundwave's extensive experience from his cassettes and himself and Prowl's Enforcer training, they came close to a field medic in skill and knowledge.

Again Starscream held still for them, accepting the pain of being repaired with more stoicism than Prowl thought him capable of. It took a long time, but time meant little inside this room.

"That's all I know how to repair on a Seeker," Prowl admitted. It wasn't as much as he wanted to fix, but it was a good deal more than Starscream could have managed on his own.

Starscream glanced over his shoulder, looked up at his wing as he rotated it carefully, then nodded in satisfaction. "It'll do," he said. 

"Then on the berth," Prowl said firmly while Soundwave rose to get some energon.

Starscream frowned but complied. Prowl was grateful to see that the berth hadn't been used in their absence, and Starscream crawled onto it with a relieved teek, going straight for the wall and wedging himself against it. 

Soundwave slipped a full cube into Prowl's hand. "Prowl: will see to fueling him," he pretended to order.

Prowl simply nodded and climbed onto the berth to settle next to Starscream and offered the cube. He wasn't about to humiliate the Seeker if Starscream was willing to fuel himself.

Starscream x-vented, but took it, and finally drank. ~How was the drive?~ he asked Soundwave, who opened both bonds up.

~It was good, until I was shot at. How Jazz figured out I'd be in sight range of that rise even I can't calculate, but I stopped trying to understand him centuries ago. He made a very good show of it though,~ Prowl answered.

~Hmm, subterfuge,~ Starscream purred, obviously pleased. He finished the cube and slipped it into subspace, then settled down on the berth. ~What did the sky look like?~

~Black and full of stars once we cleared Darkmount,~ Prowl told him.

Starscream's turbines kicked into a low hum. ~Good,~ he said, tucking his helm. ~Don't read anything into this,~ he told Prowl, as he brought his wing over to cover the smaller 'Bot. It was a move Prowl relaxed into, more than willing to rest under the wing. Soundwave soon joined them, settling on Prowl's other side. Meditation, being still or recharge, they all quieted and allowed the lights to dim.


	7. Fulfilling Needs

Starscream tossed and turned, fidgeting, uncomfortable, unable to recharge. He was wound up. He hadn't flown in forever, he was cooped in this stupid room, with what amounted to a pair of drones as company. No halls to roam, no quick frags that he could escape from once they were over, Megatron probably watching every single slagging moment. 

He _hated_ it. 

With a low groan, he reached down between his legs as his cover slid back. He really needed something, anything. There weren't even toys in here. He pressed his fingers in and rocked against them for a few kliks, but it was really no good. Just turned him on even more, with no promise of relief. 

" _Frag,_ " he hissed, and rolled over. It brought him face to face with the recharging Prowl.

Did he really want to go there? Grounder, Praxian, _small_. At least Soundwave was something close to the girth and length he preferred, but Prowl ... was the first mecha in forever to tell him what he liked was acceptable, and even acted like he believed it. If anyone would let him get off and not hold it against him, it was likely Prowl. He could teek the mech beginning to boot as well.

No point in hiding his state. Even if he couldn't teek the arousal--and Starscream was certain he would--he'd be able to smell the lubricant, so he focused on his face and waited until his optics began to glow. "Hey," he whispered, and shook his shoulder.

"What?" Prowl asked with remarkably little heat.

Instead of answer, Starscream x-vented and carefully sat up, and then swung a leg over and shifted into a straddle. He shifted his hips, rubbing against Prowl's spike cover. He looked into the ice blue optics, felt more than heard the resigned sigh and watched as Prowl turned his optics off but unlatched his spike cover and pressurized the spike.

Starscream scowled at him, then shrugged. It was better than being sneered at, at least, he decided. He was just used to spiking partners that seemed to be enjoying themselves. 

Whatever. The Praxian was hard enough, so Starscream settled himself down with a soft groan and started rocking. He had to work more than usual thanks to the size difference, something he'd know existed long before he'd ever seen Prowl's spike. At barely over half Starscream's height, it was a given the Praxian's parts would be comparably smaller.

It still felt good. It would still be enough.

But pit have it, even toys were designed to respond more than this. Could the mech _really_ be dropping into recharge?

He huffed irritably and dramatically and hoped it would at least clue Prowl in to the fact that he was being an awful partner. Prowl didn't react at all. Not even a blip to indicate he was aware of the sound.

Ugh. Whatever. Still better than the sneering, so Starscream put it out of his mind and tried to imagine... 

Nothing really came to mind. Just the friction in the valve and the way it made all the tension bleed out from his frame. Nothing else in his life ever felt good; this was the one high he chased. 

And it really _had_ become a high, as addicting as any drug.

He pushed those thoughts away too until there was nothing but the slide of the spike inside his valve and the building pleasure that promised that sweet moment of complete perfection where he couldn't think of anything bad.

It was easier right now than it had been in a long time, even with the small mech beneath him. There was no laughter, no mocking, no being reminded of the scores of gazes that could be on him at any given moment... 

Just him, and in the dark, he could almost pretend to be alone and not feel like a glitch. 

Overload overtook him and he seized with a short, sharp cry. His wings shuddered, he hunched over Prowl and rode his spike, trying desperately to draw it out for as long as he could.

Only when it was over, after his wings and frame sagged with the dissipating charge, did it register that not even the overload had garnered the Praxian's attention.

He hesitated, unnerved, then canted his wings rudely just because he could and climbed off, flopping onto his side, back to Prowl. He heard the spike slide into its housing and the panel close, but otherwise Prowl neither moved nor gave any indication of awareness.

It ... hurt, surprisingly. Starscream would have thought he'd be glad to be ignored, but he was finding it to be the opposite. 

Still, he felt far more settled than he had before, and it was easily better than the alternative. If his lot in life was to be ignored or mocked, he'd take ignored.

At least in this.

* * *

In three orns Soundwave knew that something had fundamentally broken Prowl in a way that couldn't be fixed. While the Praxian still spread his legs when it was needed to make a show and would willingly do other acts to pleasure Soundwave, he no longer made the first move. He no longer even seemed to recognize when it was desired. The acts that had brought mutual pleasure only a few orns before now were like fragging a toy. Prowl built no charge, felt no pleasure, and yet he didn't recoil from the contact either.

~We do what we must,~ Prowl's thoughts were gentle and steady, accepting of what had happened and what it meant. ~It is hardly the worst thing I've done to myself.~

~Starscream: can be made to stop.~ Soundwave said even though he wasn't entirely sure of how.

Prowl shook his helm faintly. ~Starscream needs it more than we do. We can be content with platonic. He _needs_ the overload.~

Despite his displeasure at it, Soundwave could not counter the truth of the statement.

* * *

Soundwave bowed a bit more deeply than usual when Megatron appeared on their vid screen, causing Starscream to huff in disgust and Prowl to pay a little more overt attention. They were all still acting, but it was becoming more natural with every orn. Three decaorns in and the coding had fundamentally settled into place. Starscream had even stopped acting like a complete glitch all the time under the relatively gentle direction and encouragement Prowl was inclined towards. Some might even say that the Seeker was beginning to flourish.

"Lord Megatron: how may we serve?" Soundwave greeted his former master with every bit of deference and submission that he'd so long been known for.

"I wanted to check on how plans for my latest weapon were developing," Megatron said. "I wish to annihilate the Autobots as quickly as possible, Soundwave."

"Progress: significant. Estimated completion: ten orns," Soundwave responded.

" _Ten_ orns?" Megatron repeated. "Why are simple plans taking so long?"

"If you didn't break everything you touched by pressing the buttons you are specifically told not to, it would be faster," Starscream snapped at him. "If I didn't have to sparkling proof a fragging _cannon_ it would be faster."

"Starscream." Soundwave's monotone was steady, but the Seeker flinched anyway.

"It's true," Starscream muttered quietly.

"Quality: takes time, Lord Megatron," Soundwave reminded him. "Rushing: produces failure."

"So do insults," Megatron growled, looking right at Starscream. "You will suffer for your insolence, _that_ has not changed." 

"Lord Megatron: wishes Soundwave to bring Starscream to him?" the host offered as much as suggested. "Lord Megatron's time: far more valuable than Soundwave's."

Starscream gave an indignant squawk, staring at the host. 

Megatron's mouth slowly curled up. "Yes, yes that will do very nicely, Soundwave," he said, and chuckled. "Bring him to Earth, and I will take my time enjoying him."

Soundwave inclined his helm. "As you command, Lord Megatron." He turned and walked towards Starscream, who scrambled to his pedes with a death glare while Prowl relaxed back and watched. ~This is our opportunity to escape.~ Soundwave grabbed Starscream's arm. "Starscream: come." ~Prowl, the cassettes will come for you soon.~

~Understood,~ Prowl replied, giving no outward hint of what was to come.

Starscream started putting up an audial-piercing protest, shrieking and struggling against Soundwave as the host forcefully pulled him out. His shouts echoed down the hall after the door closed after them.

Less than two kliks later, the door opened and Prowl was on his pedes, ready to dart out. The glint of small red optics in a black frame received a nod and he quickly followed Ravage through the halls. They wove away from the sounds of shrieking, and as they ran, Prowl noticed the panels they were passing were all either flickering, or dark. Someone was wreaking havoc on the electrical systems and he was reasonably sure it all traced back to Soundwave via the cassettes. They'd been preparing for this, such as they could, for over a decaorn.

A door open ahead of them on the right and Ravage darted ahead and inside. Prowl followed without question and grinned slightly at the array of weapons available. Yet the first thing he grabbed were a pair of ancient swords, that while still deadly, were hardly the best weapons available. They disappeared into his subspace along with a box with his designation written on it. Only then did Prowl grab anything that Ravage considered a valid weapon.

"Ready," he told her as he settled the heavy blaster in his hand and equally heavy rifle over his shoulder.

She huffed her approval and darted back out into the hallway, tail lashing as she looked around, before turning left and starting towards the space bridge. 

~We are here,~ Soundwave told him. ~We can leave as soon as you join us.~

~Is Shockwave a threat?~ Prowl asked as he sent an image of where he was.

~He is contained,~ Soundwave said. ~He will not reach us before we are able to get through the bridge.~

~Good,~ Prowl felt both relief and disappointment, but focused on the tactical advantage of not having to face a mecha that in many ways was even more dangerous and difficult to take down than Megatron. ~Half a klik.~

~Bridge is open,~ Soundwave said a quarter klik later. Prowl followed Ravage around the last turn and saw Soundwave and Starscream waiting in front of the bridge. Soundwave's chest was open and Ravage immediately leaped up and transformed, slipping inside. The cover closed and Soundwave looked at Prowl. "All cassettes: are accounted for. Follow behind me. Appear: subservient."

Prowl had subspaced his weapons before Soundwave had finished speaking and lowered his doorwings to a steady but not commanding angle by the time he'd come to stand beside his gestalt mates inside the space bridge chamber. He drew in a deep vent and let it go as he settled the rest of the way.

Soundwave nodded once, then glanced at Starscream, who sighed and lowered his wings. 

"Let us go," Soundwave said, and grabbed Starscream's wing. The Seeker immediately started putting up a fuss that could put any of the fits that Prowl had seen before to shame. Soundwave dragged him through, and Prowl followed. 

The sunlight that hit them as they stepped out was warm, and Prowl heard the click of rifles over Starscream's screeching. 

"Soundwave: is bringing Starscream to Lord Megatron," the host said calmly, over the noise. 

"Yeah but just Starscream," Thrust said, frowning at Prowl, who shifted fractionally closer to Soundwave and growled back.

"Prowl: will not part from Soundwave," the host said with what passed as a shrug. "Loyalty and attachment: to be indulged."

Thrust looked at Dirge uncertainly. The dour Seeker just shrugged. "Whatever," he said, waving them by. 

~We're lucky it was those morons,~ Starscream hissed as they walked by, playing up the show of being dragged the entire way.

Prowl had to move quickly to keep pace with the taller pair, but only for a klik. Once they were clear of the security grid, Soundwave stopped and looked at the small grounder.

A slight shiver passed along Prowl's doorwings, but he stepped close and turned his back for the host lifted him up and pin Prowl against his chest. It wasn't the most comfortable posture, but as they lifted off, Prowl focused on the tactical data and advantages of the perspective to drown out Starscream's continued screeching as he was dragged into the air by a wing.

It was a strange sensation, flying towards the Nemesis in Soundwave's grip and not dreading it. He knew once they were out of visual range of the guards Soundwave would let go of Starscream and they'd shift direction to land just outside the Ark's security parameter. They all agreed that walking in with a comm signal from Prowl ahead of them was safest, at least for Soundwave and Starscream. Prowl knew that even if it was believed he was compromised, which they should until he was checked over, so long as he didn't attack, he'd be taken prisoner rather than shot on sight.

::This is Prowl,:: he commed once they shifted direction, with Starscream flying above them. ::I am incoming with Soundwave and Starscream. We will all surrender peacefully.::

::Heya Prowl.:: That was Jazz. ::Good ta hear your voice. Yeah, expect an armed guard.::

::Understood. A full medical review and SpecOps 'debriefing' also expected. I know the regs. I wrote them,:: Prowl replied calmly.

::Not _my_ regs ya didn't,:: Jazz said. ::But yeah. It's about the same. Um, whatcha want me ta tell... ya know. Ain't no hidin' ya.::

Prowl felt Soundwave's attention sharpen on him but he was too confused to care. ::I do not understand. Memory lockdown, I believe.::

::...'Kay,:: Jazz said. ::We'll getcha all looked at. Stop here, Ironhide'll be there, and the twins. Prime's makin' some noise but I think Ratchet's gonna get him ta stay.:: He pinged over a set of coordinates. 

::ETA five kliks,:: Prowl responded. ::Soundwave and I are armed. Starscream is not,:: Prowl added. ::No damage, energy levels acceptable.:: He paused briefly. ::Expect difficulty separating us. Coding and sparks will object. I will cooperate as best I am able.::

::Gotcha. See ya when ya get back.:: The line cut. 

Ironhide, Sunstreaker, and Sideswipe became visible not long after that, and all three transformed in front of them, out of arm's reach but within firing range. Prowl put his hands up, Soundwave and Starscream followed suit.

"Disarm. All of it," Ironhide demanded gruffly.

Without hesitation Prowl took the blaster, riffle, swords and box from his subspace and returned his hands to the air.

"You too, and cassettes out, all of 'em," the warrior demanded, turning his glare on Soundwave. 

The host frowned, but complied, removing what he had and opening his chest up to let all five cassettes out. They transformed in front of him and held still. 

"Hey Screecher," Sideswipe said with a grin, swinging stasis cuffs around on his finger.

"What!" the Seeker screeched befitting his nickname and flared his wings high and wide as his turbines revved for flight.

"Starscream." The single glyph, in Prowl's even voice, caused the Seeker to twitch and glare at Prowl, but he powered down his turbines and turned his glare at Sideswipe.

"Hurt me and you'll pay," Starscream hissed as he was cuffed.

"Oh, we wouldn't _dream_ of it, would we, Sunny?" Sideswipe said as his twin cuffed Soundwave. Sunstreaker grunted and Sideswipe cuffed the back of Starscream's helm. "Wouldn't be a fair fight on the ground, anyway. Start walkin'. And get used to the ground, friend." 

"I'm not your friend," Starscream snarled. 

Sunstreaker cuffed Prowl as Ironhide collected the weapons, then gestured with his helm. "March. All 'a ya."

Prowl moved with his standard formal grace, with Soundwave keeping pace with the shorter mecha. Laserbeak and Buzzsaw sat on his shoulders, while the twins and Ravage walked defensively around him. Even Starscream's fussing was easily seen for what it was: habit and covering nerves.

::Hurry it up guys. Seekers incoming,:: Jazz's voice held some urgency as he commed the guards.

::No problem,:: Sideswipe said, hefting his blaster with a savage grin, but started walking faster. No one objected.

No one but Starscream. "What's the hurry?"

"Megatron sent someone out to find out why we strayed," Prowl said with the kind of assurance that meant his tac-net reported over a 99% probability. "Likely several, given who and where we are."

"Sent who?" Starscream asked sharply. 

Sunstreaker snorted. "Your buddies. Shut up and get inside."

Ironhide added. "Likely the whole fleet. Move."

The group hurried a bit more until they were under cover of the engines, then inside the massive blast doors that protected the living space inside the Ark.

"Sent _who?_ " Starscream demanded. 

"Seekers," Soundwave said with a glare that silenced the jet. He looked around once the wings lowered, taking in the space that he had only seen through the optics of his cassettes before. 

"Right," Jazz said, stepping out in front of them, blaster slung over his shoulder as he regarded the group. "Goin' ta the brig, speedy quick. Don't need anyone seein' ya."

Prowl nodded, his doorwings dipping in submission, something Jazz had very rarely seen, much less had directed at him. Though Starscream fussed, they all got to the brig in short order. Prowl stepped into the cell Jazz waved him to via the blaster and sat down on the platform that passed for a berth, square on with the activated bars and still.

Soundwave was equally compliant with his cassettes into the very last cell in the row, one with a solid security wall and enough EM white noise to all but blind his telepathy.

Starscream stood in front of his, whining about having to go back into a confined space, and especially one as small as this. "This is cruel and unusual!" he complained. Ironhide growled and shoved him inside hard enough he impacted the far wall.

"Shut your trap. You aren't a defector until you prove it," the old warrior snapped at him.

"And anyway, ya want cruel and unusual, come see me," Jazz said, grinning savagely at him. "Prowler, ya'll be up first, when I get back from dealin' with y' mess."

"I will be ready," the Praxian inclined his helm, his posture as perfect as if he was sitting in his office waiting for a report rather than sitting on a metal plate of a berth in the Ark's brig.

"Who's out there?" Starscream demanded for a third time. 

"Some jets that're about to go nosediving into the ground," Sideswipe chuckled as he disarmed his weapon and left with his twin. 

"About right," Jazz said with a grin and half-shrug. "Few others. We'll see ya." 

Starscream scowled and started pacing around the small confines of his cell. The others remained quiet and still. They couldn't hear anything of the battle that was surely going on outside, yet after a groon Prowl stood and went to the center of the room to kneel and placed his hands on the back of his helm.

"What are you _doing?_ " Starscream hissed at him. "You don't just surrender to them!" 

"Procedure," Prowl said simply. "Until proven otherwise, I am a traitor. So yes, despite Jazz's customary flagrant disregard for regulations, I did just surrender."

"You're pathetic," Starscream spat at him, before slumping down against the wall. "Can't believe you lead this mess," he muttered. 

"Prime leads this mess," Prowl corrected him harshly. "I am only an Enforcer."

The door to the brig opened. Jazz strolled in, whistling, and came to a stop right in front of Prowl's cell. "Ya all set, then, Prowler?" he said, getting a set of stasis cuffs out. 

"Yes," Prowl answered, his frame relaxed as the bars came down and Jazz strolled in to cuff him without any apparent fear of the mech who was a very skilled close quarters fighter in his own right. When Jazz tugged on the cuffs for Prowl to stand, the Praxian did so without hesitation and allowed his cuffed hands to fall forward before following Jazz's direction to walk out of the cell.

Starscream snarled his displeasure behind them and Soundwave was silent, and then they were walking along to Jazz's quarters. It was the only place the saboteur had on the ship to outfit as he felt needed, and Prowl knew he kept it as functioning as any dungeon. This was the first time Prowl had seen it in some time, and he wasn't surprised to see it visibly stripped of Jazz's non-professional items, and of everything that couldn't be easily rinsed off and wiped down.

"If ya'll sit, please," Jazz said once they were inside, gesturing towards a single chair that was set in the center of the room.

Prowl complied. He felt a twitch of fear deep inside. He knew what was coming, and even though he had no intention of resisting, he knew just how unpleasant it was going to be. Even if Jazz didn't do a single thing that wasn't absolutely necessary, it was going to _hurt_. Prowl did not trust Jazz to be that restrained in the least.

"So," Jazz said conversationally as he began strapping him to the chair. "Had a nice vacation, huh? Make any friends?" 

"No, and no," Prowl answered truthfully.

"Yeah?" Jazz tightened down the tie around his middle, then came around front and looked at him. "So I'm s'posed ta believe ya just _ended up_ spark bonded?"

"Negative. I was in stasis for both the gestalt reconfiguration and the bonding," Prowl told him.

"Mhmm, interesting." Jazz pulled out a cord and twirled the tip against his finger. "So I guess ya won't mind playin' with me a bit?"

"I always mind," Prowl grumbled at him, stating a truth they both knew well. "Just as I always submit when it is necessary." With that his main jack panel slid open.

Mmm." Jazz purred deeply as he leaned in, teasing at the port. "Don't I know it. Love it when my playmates get feisty."

"I still find it disturbing that you do not grasp the difference between playmate and subject," Prowl said evenly, but his field told Jazz the first thing that had changed while he'd been away. Prowl had completely shut down his interface protocols, and it wasn't a conscious move. It was as clear an indication of intense abuse in that way as screaming about it.

He kept his reactions and thoughts about that to himself, and chuckled. "Prowler. It's _all_ play ta me." He clicked in, and slammed forward with no hesitation, all but daring the Praxian to still have his firewalls up. He allowed the reflexive handshake to happen, only because he could see that Prowl had dropped every firewall he had control over. That was one of the great frustrations of dealing with black-box processors. Not even the mech they were in had much control over them, and Jazz had learned the hard way that breaking into Prowl's tac-net was rather like trying to walk through an active smelter.

Still, he'd done it before and he would manage again. Although he could already see that things had been tossed around. Huge chunks that he expected to find in active processing were completely gone, with faint links back into the blackout section. It didn't take much searching to know what was gone, or why Prowl had hidden it from even himself. 

~So,~ he purred, and dragged his claws lightly down Prowl's doorwing. ~We're gonna go on a little trip and find all your dirty little secrets.~

Prowl shuddered, dreading what was coming even as he accepted it. Duty had brought him here. Duty would see him through it. Jazz had learned long ago that duty was the beginning and end of Prowl's universe, and even those he loved, the _one_ he cared deeply for, came in a distant second to that dreary, nearly all-consuming reality.

Yet that dedication, and the logic chips that went with the tac-net, also made Prowl stunningly easy to understand and untangle. It also made him painfully difficult to tangle up for long. Those processors simply did not accept disorder. It would shut him down until a defrag had sorted things out, and that wasn't even the glitch.

For Jazz, who relied upon creating that disorder in order to tease out the answers he wanted, it was a frustrating paradox. He had to find the balance between getting him off kilter enough to grab what he needed, and not shutting him down. Unfortunately for Prowl, if Jazz couldn't rely on processor-games, it meant pain had to be used.

A lot of pain.

It started out slow, and light, just claws that danced through the sensitive wires at the base of the doorwings. It was a touch that would bring pleasure. It should bring pleasure, even arousal. It had before with Prowl, and that was often almost as effective a discomforting distraction as pain was. Not this time though. When his interfacing protocols had shut themselves down, it meant this touch no longer triggered pleasure, much less arousal. It triggered nothing, other than a faint hike in the tension because Prowl knew what was coming.

A flare of directionless hate flashed across Prowl, seemingly coming from nowhere and directed at nothing. Not even Jazz could track either end of it before it was gone. In most subjects Jazz would have written it off as normal. There wasn't a mecha still surviving that didn't have deep psychological scars from the war and such flashes were normal even for the calm ones.

Prowl wasn't among the majority, though. Oh, he had scars. He had more than many. Yet Prowl didn't do random, and he didn't do directionless. It literally wasn't in him.

Jazz shivered. It was unusual, and while that was interesting, was just one more layer of figuring out what had happened. 

Every agent was familiar with this process, being picked apart after a deep cover mission until they were flayed and bare before their commander. Jazz sunk his claws in deeper and wrapped his way around a central data stream and began to pick it apart. It was no real surprise that Prowl barely flinched, physically or mentally, at the rush of errors that meant pain. Prowl had been designed from the beginning to be almost as resilient to pain and damage as a purpose-built frontliner.

The central data stream was rich with information, and it reminded Jazz a bit too much of trying to watch Blurr process. Prowl was a bit slower, but the dataload was much higher. Even now with next to nothing to pay attention to he didn't slow down. The subjects just changed. Right now it was equal parts protection and hate towards Starscream, how to protect Soundwave and how to end the war with Megatron dead.

There was no anger and no grieving over what he had lost, which to Jazz meant he just wasn't thinking about it, or couldn't remember what he should be grieving. 

~Why do ya wanna protect Soundwave?~ he asked, focusing in on a central seam with his claws. 

~He has the same grade and type of compliance coding that I do. Once the gestalt coding forced his loyalty to shift to me, he was not an enemy anymore,~ Prowl attempted to explain what he knew on reflex and was all too aware was alien to the kindled mech he was speaking too. Compliance coding was all but universal among sparked mecha, but the strongest grade of it was of very limited use outside of Enforcers and military. What Prowl functioned under changed one's thought processes on a level that simply did not exist anywhere else.

~Oh yeah? Shifted ta you, huh? How do I know that y' not all back here 'cause'a Megatron's orders, gorgeous?~

_That_ earned Jazz a physical snarl and hard lash inside Prowl's processors, though it was only a display of indigent anger, not an actual effort to hurt him. The snarl stayed on Prowl's features long after his processor settled itself with the reminder that yes, Jazz _was_ that ignorant. 

~The same reason Motormaster hasn't killed any of his gestalt.~

~I don't think y' woulda become loyal to Megs, lovely,~ Jazz said calmly as he slipped into Prowl's lap, straddling him. ~Tell me that Soundwave doesn't lead this gestalt. Make me believe it.~

It was an incredibly weird sensation to be in a mecha's lap, know how they would normally respond, and be inside their processors enough to know that the lack of response was utterly genuine. Prowl didn't even resent the innuendo. He couldn't even recognize it.

There was a momentary shift in the thought-flow as Prowl focused on how to make Jazz believe. Just as suddenly, Jazz was immersed in a memory and the reminder that Prowl not only never forgot _anything_ , his default recording level was what most mecha considered to be high definition. Another design feature to make his kind, at least those from Praxus, admissible in any court as forensic evidence.

He felt the struggle, the push of spark and will as Prowl and Soundwave competed in a silent match to determine who was stronger to the gestalt code. He felt things click inside Prowl as Soundwave looked away and Prowl was accepted as his leader. While Jazz didn't get much on what happened to Soundwave, he felt the loyalty link to Soundwave as Prowl's charge rather than his master. With it, outside the memory, was the knowledge that Soundwave was high-compliance coded just like Prowl was and what that meant.

~All right, get used ta that memory,~ Jazz said with a nod, and used one hand to yank back a section of weaker plating. He started to drag his claws along an exposed wire, stripping it. ~Now remember it again.~

Pain errors surged into Prowl's awareness as he complied and replayed the memory.

~Good,~ Jazz purred. He dug in deeper. ~Again.~

It went on like that for nearly a joor, dissecting that single memory until Prowl's optics had been cracked, one of his doorwings dislocated, energon running down his frame. Nothing about it changed, true to Prowl's nature and training. Every detail was still perfectly intact. Every thought about it remained steady. Every challenge Jazz threw at it was challenged back with what had always been there.

In short, after a joor, Jazz had gotten absolutely nowhere, and he'd learned what he needed to. He could say with confidence that Prowl wasn't compromised. That he was the leader of the gestalt.

What he hadn't learned was who had abused Prowl to the point where he'd shut down such an important part of his programming.

The mech's frame was too beaten up for Jazz to go with his normal seduction methods, so instead, he pulled back above the highest firewall and flooded Prowl's processor with _pleasure_.

It worked about as well as it did with a youngling. Prowl recognized the intent, but without any protocols to translate it into a meaningful sensation all that happened was a mitigation of the pain for the moment it took before Prowl recoiled and tried to shut Jazz out without thinking of why.

~What happened ta you,~ Jazz murmured, strumming the data strings that led into the black box. ~I wanna break in here, Prowler.~

~I was too disgusted with what was being demanded of me to feel it,~ he shrugged. ~It's not exactly an unusual response to extended interfacing abuse. You know that. Why do you want into the tac-net?~ he asked, wary of facing the repercussions of such a break in if it was avoidable.

Jazz frowned. ~Ya know what turned y' drive off?~ he asked. ~'S not poppin' up when I look. I mean, not that I'm takin' it personal or anything, but usually a mech's nudgin' me about now when I do this.~ He rolled his hips, right over Prowl's spike cover.

The recoil this time was mostly an effort by Prowl not to purge as memories thick with emotion flooded towards Jazz. The horror he felt at himself by crossing the line of consent the first time he'd been inside Starscream. What it had taken to get through that, and then, when Starscream had come and rubbed against his spike cover in the night, the gestalt code's demand that he indulge his mate even though he wanted nothing other than to maul the Seeker until he was gray. He simply turned off the sensors that time, but it was also the beginning of when he could no longer bring himself to respond to Soundwave, a lover he had previously welcomed. Too much emotion, too many conflicts, so he shut it all down. It didn't stop Starscream from demanding to ride his spike more nights than not, but it had allowed Prowl to cope.

~Ah, Prowler,~ Jazz murmured sadly, touching their forehelms together, pulsing forward as much comfort as he could. It was a response that left Prowl confused and rather uneasy. Personal trust and Jazz were not glyphs he'd ever linked together. He trusted Jazz to perform his function, but to be kind? No, Prowl didn't believe in that for a moment. It made his tac-net surge into full speed to try and work out why Jazz was trying to comfort a mech he didn't like and who didn't like him.

~Ya locked up some personal stuff. Ya want me ta get it out, or should I wait?~ Jazz brushed the concerns aside, reminded once more that their relationship was hostile one a best and Prowl was incapable of seeing anything else in him.

~Out. There is no reason to hide it anymore. It can't be used against me here,~ Prowl said firmly despite how queasy he still was. 

~Yeah, all right,~ Jazz said, and started to pry at the locks. After a klik, he popped them open, and the memories that Prowl had locked away to keep them safe from the Decepticons all came flooding out. There were a huge number of memories that Jazz recognized the tactical value of, ranging from schedules to patrol routes to personnel files to officer meetings. Then there was the swath that Jazz didn't recognize the value of quite so easily. Casual conversations, smiling at Bluestreak, practice on the target range.

Then there was _everything_ to do with Red Alert that wasn't a low-clearance business issue. Billions of events, sorted back into active memory from oldest to the most recent, and Jazz watched it all with a fascination for the processors that could move that fast. Or at least he watched as much as he could from his spot above the highest firewall when Prowl wasn't inclined to share. Not that Jazz could blame him; these weren't memories that had anything to do with his time as a prisoner and they both knew it. They just had everything to do with understanding the puzzle that was Prowl and Red Alert.

When Prowl finished, he raised the rest of his firewalls, visibly off balanced, and initiated a soft reboot.

Jazz waited there, more than a little inclined to rub his thumb along Prowl's chevron, but knowing that the Praxian wouldn't appreciate it in the slightest. When he felt the boot up finishing, he flicked forward a new handshake over the hardline in order to test the response time. It came back in good time, but Prowl wasn't letting him in.

About what he expected. Back to normal. Jazz shrugged and unplugged from him, slipping backwards. "Ya want Ratchet?" he asked, licking off one of his claws.

"Yes," Prowl murmured. "He'll want me for the physical at any rate."

"'Kay. How hard should I pursue gettin' this code outta ya?" Jazz asked next as he sent off the request, though made sure not to mark it as urgent. "Percy might be able ta work somethin', Wheeljack if he has a good day."

"The tactical advantage of keeping Soundwave and Starscream with us far outweighs any distress it causes me," Prowl said with a quiet sigh. "Best if there is not a way found until after the war is over."

"Good, gotcha," Jazz said, tilting his head in thought. "Technically I outrank ya until I clear ya, but I'll ask anyway. How ya want me ta treat them? Gonna get what I need first, but after that, I mean."

"They are legitimate defectors, especially Soundwave," Prowl said, only to have hate skitter across his field again. "Starscream's more useful if he doesn't hate us more than Megatron. He's _useful_ if directed."

"Great. Ya trust 'em?"

"Soundwave, yes. Starscream is still Starscream," Prowl answered. "He's your kind."

Jazz smirked. "Ya gotta funny idea 'a _kind,_ Prowler," he said.

"Chaotic, unstable, irrational, undisciplined, brilliant and _kindled_ ," Prowl listed out what he saw as their common traits.

"Yeah all right," Jazz chuckled. "Give ya those. Especially the brilliant one. Right, we'll get Ratchet in. Ya wan' anything else?"

"Negative," Prowl's voice dropped. "I'm not prepared to face him. Not with what happened. He won't take it well."

Jazz shook his head. "He'll probably panic and start tryin' ta listen ta the clouds." He sighed. "Y' not my favorite, but it's a rough break. Sorry for ya."

"It is to our advantage in the long run," Prowl said calmly. "Anything that ends the war sooner is worth it. This might just be enough to overcome our disadvantage."

Jazz nodded slowly. "Speakin' 'a ... Prime wants ta see all 'a ya. Not right now, but start gettin' used ta it. I get the processors, he's checkin' sparks."

"While Ratchet checks the frames," Prowl nodded faintly, his field flat. "It's not as if Prime will learn anything I didn't tell him when we first met."

"All right," Jazz said as the door opened behind him. Ratchet walked in and groaned. 

"Really, Jazz?" 

Jazz shrugged. "Prime told me ta make sure he isn't compromised. I did that. Your turn. Bye Prowl."

"Your next two patients are likely to be in much, much worse shape, and you'll have me hovering on top of it," Prowl said as Ratchet began to release the bindings.

"Did you fight him?" Ratchet asked.

"Of course not," Prowl glared at him before not fighting the drop into medical stasis.

* * *

Jazz led Prowl back to his cell after Ratchet finished with the critical repairs, but he'd left orders for the superficial damage to remain untouched. The Praxian looked far worse off than he actually was as he was shoved back into his cell. 

"You're up," he told Soundwave, unlocking that one next.

"Cassettes: to come or stay?" Soundwave asked without moving.

"Sure, bring the kids," Jazz said, smile widening into a grin. "They can watch. We can all catch up."

Soundwave stepped out and followed Jazz in silence, yet as they left the brig Jazz did manage to pick up relief in the host's tightly held field. He brought them back to his quarters, just like Prowl, and bid Soundwave to wait while he arranged accommodations for the cassettes in the form of a large, steel cage. He had no doubts they'd be able to break out of it if they tried, but they wouldn't be able to do it without being noticed. 

"Out with them," Jazz ordered, then waited until all five had transformed. "Ya break out, I shoot ya," Jazz said, bringing out his pistol and waving it in front of them. "Capiche?"

"Understood," Soundwave said.

"Gotcha." and "Yeah, glitch-head." Came from the twins, while the other three made quieter indications of understanding.

"Then in with ya," Jazz motioned to the cage, then locked it when they were all inside.

"Cassettes: will not cause undue trouble," Soundwave said firmly, more to them than Jazz.

Ravage growled and started pacing around the edges of the cage, visibly unsettled. The others settled together in the middle, looking unhappy at what they had to know was coming. 

"Your turn," Jazz told Soundwave, pointing at the chair he'd strapped Prowl in. It was still wet with energon. 

The host hesitated just a moment, then sat. "Query: where is Blaster?"

Jazz shrugged. "What's it ta you?" he asked as he started strapping the host down. 

"Telepath: needed to counter a telepath," Soundwave made a pointed probe into Jazz's processors.

He immediately felt the familiar push back, and the barrier that was erected around Jazz. The saboteur just grinned. "Oops, there he is."

It settled Soundwave somewhat and he stopped trying to push, then relaxed his own guard to the other telepath. Blaster's presence stayed where it was, a calm, neutral barrier. 

"Now then," Jazz said, walking a quick circle around the much larger Decepticon and checking everything. "Gonna ask the same thing 'a you as Prowler. Open up, big boy."

"Violence: unnecessary," Soundwave said as he spiraled open his main data port.

"Ya'd like that, wouldn't ya," Jazz said. "But actually it is. Ya know that, y' not 'zactly new ta the game y'self." He plugged into the host and slammed forward exactly as he had with Prowl. He bounced off the kind of firewalls he expected from Soundwave's reputation, only to have them come down a moment later and allow him in.

~Actually, Jazz, 'paths don't usually need violence,~ Blaster pointed out. ~But he was saying he's not going to fight you.~

~Don't undermine me,~ Jazz said cheerfully as he pulled out a vibro blade and flipped it on. ~Whether or not he fights, I'm gonna tear 'im up and see what pops out. He knows that.~

~He didn't hear me,~ Blaster said with a hint of annoyance. ~Yes, he knows that you will hurt him. He's fully aware of your kind's methods.~

~Hey, it's not my fault they work,~ Jazz said as he settled into Soundwave's processors and started looking around, getting to know the layout a bit more. It made Prowl's processors seem disorganized by comparison, but what was really interesting was that despite the lack of any kind of advanced tac-net, it was still a data and odds crunching focus.

~Well, duh. He's a comms mech,~ Blaster reminded Jazz. ~Any processor designed to cope with masses of data is going to look like that.~

Jazz teased at the active processing threads, looking for markers that would indicate how he felt about Prowl and the gestalt. ~Ya gonna do y' job, or ya gonna chatter?~ he asked.

~I am doing my job. Now I'll _only_ do my job,~ Blaster grumbled at him, then went silent.

~Blaster: upset,~ Soundwave told Jazz with a sense that it bothered Soundwave.

~Shush, love,~ Jazz said. ~He's a big 'Bot, he'll be fine. So why don't you tell me about Prowl for a bit.~

~Specific questions: helpful,~ Soundwave suggested, though he pointed Jazz to the web of links assassinated with 'Prowl'.

~Not tryin' ta be helpful, though maybe you should start considerin' it,~ Jazz said. ~Tell me about Prowl.~

~Brilliant, dedicated beyond his coding, consumed by internalized hatred, suicidal ... very caring.~

~Mhmm. That's good,~ Jazz said. ~How about your relationship with him?~

~Gestalt and spark bonded. The rest is over,~ Soundwave answered, and the last part hurt.

~The rest?~ Jazz asked, gentling his voice. ~ Ya don't mean being an enemy, do ya.~

~Negative. Physical affection, desire: now distasteful to Prowl. Time to repair: insufficient,~ Soundwave answered. His processors, though interfacing was there among the sensations, were far more centered on recharging close and more platonic contact.

~Because of Starscream,~ Jazz said, stating as much as asking. ~Being forced ta 'face him instead 'a kill him. How much was Screamer aware 'a what he was doin', do ya know?~

~Starscream: aware of affects. Starscream: cares only for himself. Starscream: will not stop,~ Soundwave answered with a mixture of anger, disdain and a complete inability to comprehend. He understood why Prowl allowed it to continue though, and respected him for it.

Jazz just nodded. ~So tell me how the leadership of your gestalt was chosen,~ he said.

~Leader: strongest will and spark,~ Soundwave offered the memories of his challenges, and what he'd seen and picked up about the one between Prowl and Starscream.

~Good,~ Jazz said, and started to twist his vibro blade into the tip of one of Soundwave's fingers. ~Show it to me again.~

With a resigned sigh Soundwave did as he was instructed and made a point that he could easily turn his physical sensations off, but wasn't. All because Prowl had ordered full cooperation.

Jazz pointedly reminded him that he could turn everything right back on even if he tried, and continued as he had with Prowl, checking and rechecking the host's story and professions of allegiance against greater and greater amounts of pain and mental chaos. Just like Prowl, the host continued to come up completely genuine. His coding had indeed locked onto Prowl, and he was as loyal to his new master as he was to his old, if not more loyal in face of Prowl's kindness.

Prowl was a good leader, not merely a leader.

It was a critical difference to Soundwave. 

Jazz pushed at that angle for a while, trying to tease out what the host truly felt of Megatron and this shift in loyalties. From what he could tell, Soundwave felt good about it. Soundwave knew that his absence would be a huge weakness for Megatron. 

~Now, Prowler may rank me, but you sure don't,~ Jazz said, joors later, after he was satisfied with what he'd found. He tipped the beaten and bleeding host's face up to his. ~Will you and your cassettes listen ta me?~

~If Prowl so orders, which he has,~ Soundwave answered, his mind still steady as he phased out attention to his frame now that the demand to allow it to disrupt him was past.

~Good. So how about the Seekers, are they comin' with Screamer?~

Soundwave's mind actually answered with a disgusted snort. ~Seekers: do not understand Seekers. Everyone else: has no chance. Ask Starscream.~

~I will,~ Jazz said cheerfully as he commed Ratchet.

* * *

Jazz marched Soundwave back to his cell in the same condition he'd brought Prowl in. Stabilized, but something awful to look at. Starscream groaned from where he was huddled in the corner. 

"You can't do this to me," he hissed when Jazz palmed the door on his cell. "You're an _Autobot._ "

"He can and he will," Prowl said with an eerie calm from his cell. "It's his function."

"See, even Prowler knows I operate under my own rules," Jazz grinned at the cowering Seeker. "Come willingly, or not, you're coming."

Starscream glared at him for another few moments, then winced, then stood up and followed after Jazz. 

"Good boy," Jazz teased him as they walked, unconcerned with having the Seeker uncuffed and supposedly walking free into the halls of the officer's quarters, or about the way to his quarters and the energon soaked mess that it was right now.

"Shut up," Starscream snapped at the smaller 'Bot. "I'm only not killing you right now because of the damn gestalt code."

"As if you could pull that off," Jazz laughed easily and palmed his door open. "On an open plane when you have ranged weapons, sure, even odds. When you have to fight hand to hand, no flying, and I'm armed? Your good behavior is the only thing keeping you alive. Sit down," he pointed at the well-used chair.

"Like you would risk killing Prowl," Starscream scoffed, and didn't move, eyeing the energon-covered chair with distaste.

"I'd have no problem with it, actually," Jazz shrugged as he grabbed a wingtip and twisted to force Starscream to move. The Seeker squawked in protest. "I know Prowler'd appreciate the relief of extinguishing, mission complete or not."

"Let go!" Starscream whined as he finally jerked away, and sat down with a sullen look on his face. He twitched several times as he was strapped down.

"Open up, lovely," Jazz tapped Starscream's primary data port.

_Disgust_ rolled through Starscream's field but he complied with a low hiss. "What do you mean about Prowl wanting to deactivate," he said. "He isn't going to do something stupid that could get me killed, is he?"

Jazz shrugged. ~I doubt it, given you aren't spark bonded to him. Surely you picked up that he's only still around after Praxus because of his oaths. Now, why are you here?~

~Do I _look_ like a suicidal, glitched out _moron_ to you?~ Starscream growled, only to get a punch to the face. It wasn't nearly as much damage as Megatron did, but it still hurt, sending streams of error messages and damage reports to his HUD.

~Why are you here, pretty?~ Jazz asked again, his tone sweet and completely at odds with the damage he'd just dealt.

~Because if I was still on Cybertron, I'd be a pile of parts,~ Starscream said, rebooting his optics a few times until they focused correctly.

~You really believe that Megatron would deactivate you over this, after all the times he's let you live when you really have betrayed him?~ Jazz didn't hide his doubt. ~Mech has a thing for you. Even I know that.~

~He doesn't,~ Starscream said flatly. ~And _you_ really believe he would have missed an opportunity to cripple or even kill two traitors? Traitors who are going to work for the Prime now? You're a fool.~

~I suppose he's crazy enough to see it that way,~ Jazz hummed. ~He hasn't been thinking sane for a long time now. So, you followed to stay alive. What are you willing to do for us to stay out of a cage?~

Starscream glanced to the side, thought about it for a moment, then shrugged. ~Whatever you want.~

~Teach our hatchlings how to fly? Fight other Seekers?~ He tipped Starscream's face up with a seductive purr. ~Be my playmate?~

Starscream shuddered with revulsion. ~If you let me fly, I will do _whatever_ you want.~

~Good,~ Jazz rumbled with a blatant flare of arousal as he slid his hand over Starscream's spike cover. ~I bet you have a wonderfully large spike.~

Starscream twitched, then sighed dramatically. ~I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. Grounders _always_ get all hot for the wings. Very well.~ He slid the cover back. 

~Yes, we do,~ Jazz chuckled as he leaned over to lick the housing, making a genuine effort with frame and hardline to rouse his subject.

He noticed that that the response he got, while a very well-rehearsed one to the point that it looked natural, was definitely scripted and forced. Starscream wasn't interested in what he was doing. Someone less experienced at picking apart lies might not have been able to tell, but the upwards kick in the fans was steady and timed, and the Seeker's spike extended after an internal command that Jazz was witness to. He wasn't sure if Starscream realized how deep he could see into the unorganized mess of his processors.

~Show me what makes you hot, lover,~ Jazz trilled at him. ~I can feel how little this does for ya.~

Starscream's wings twitched, and Jazz felt how unsettled he was. He was expecting to have to pleasure Jazz, or be tortured by him, and now his spark was pulsing faster and his turbines were warming in a fear response. 

A series of images flashed through his mind, big mecha, faceless and nameless, large hands that grabbed and spikes that stretched. _Power_ surged through all of them.

Jazz didn't hide the shudder of how much that turned him on. ~Oh, you have good taste. Nothing quite like being stretched and filled and driven hard. Nothing at all. Primus those are some lovely memories,~ Jazz groaned and shared a few of his own. Some had designations, many didn't. The level of consent ran the gamut, everything from both parties being eager to both wanting to be anywhere else. No matter what though, Jazz always remembered how good it felt to be filled. ~Guess we have that in common. Probably end up with a few lovers in common too. Prime's _amazing_ if you get him in the right mood and make him forget to be careful.~

" _Prime?_ " Starscream blurted, shock making him react verbally. "But he's so..." ~He's so... He's so _weak._ " Under the words, and the mental blustering, Jazz felt a strong current of _shock-disgust-disbelief_ that didn't seem to have anything to do with Prime.

~Oh, he's not weak at all. He out-stubborns Prowl and survives fist to fist with Buckethead. He's weird, I'll grant you that, but when he gets lost in thrusting into a tight valve he's processor-blowing in all the best ways,~ Jazz countered at he tugged on the _shock-disgust-disbelief_ to bring it further into the open and understand it.

Starscream hissed and cringed back, as if that would do anything to stop the hacker digging into his processors, as images of mecha being spiked came forward. This time, the focus was on them, not the ones doing the spiking like the fantasies had been, and Starscream was disgusted with the pleasure that they were taking. 

That _he_ was taking, in some of them. Shock that Jazz would be so open about such a thing.

Jazz tugged more, drawing out memories, going back further until he found the source of the disgust, the moment that changed Starscream from enjoying what was natural to the twisted mockery of interfacing he understood now.

~Get out!~ Starscream shrieked at him. ~ _Get out!_ ~ 

But Jazz had already dived into the file, and was suddenly feeling Megatron behind him, _seeing_ the warlord with wings he didn't have, hearing the rumbling laughter as a recording played on the vid screens before them. It was him--Starscream him--riding Megatron's spike, clearly enjoying himself. And somehow Jazz knew that everyone had seen it. 

_Betrayal._ Something that had been like love twisted up in the Seeker's spark into the seething hatred he felt today. And still beyond it all, he was addicted to the 'facing. 

~GET OUT!~ Starscream screamed.

Jazz let the memory go, but didn't back out. ~On this side of the war, there's no shame in pleasure so long as everybody involved agrees to what's happening. Ya dig?~

~It's weak,~ Starscream hissed. ~If you can't protect your frame you're weak.~

Jazz rolled his optics and let Starscream feel exactly what he thought of associating any pleasure with being weak. ~Whatever Screamer. It's not like it matters to me if you hate yourself. Just make _real_ sure you get an explicit _yes_ from anyone you 'face. Especially Prowler.~

~Prowl,~ Starscream spat bitterly. ~Prowl said the same thing as you, and then he turned into the same as the rest. Worthless. _Useless._ ~

Jazz scowled and yanked the memories up, getting Starscream's half of events that Prowl had shut down over and snarled. ~I really shouldn't be surprised at you. I'm going to make this _painfully_ clear since you are incapable of telling consent from surrender. Touch _anyone_ for pleasure without an explicit, verbal yes from them and I'll tear your interface array out myself. You will _never_ touch Prowl like that again for any reason. You've done enough damage already. Got it?~

~I'm code bound to him!~ Starscream protested in defense of something he obviously did not fully understand, but when Jazz reiterated the threat with a growl, winced back. ~Yes, okay! Okay! Just don't hurt me!~

~Good. It was hard enough keeping him functioning when he had a lover and something to look forward to at the end of his shift. Now I have to figure out how to keep him from killing Prime so he can wipe out the Decepticons and finally be _done_ ,~ Jazz settled down a bit. ~I bet you didn't know that. That Prime's the reason any of you survived a vorn after Praxus. Prowl has the plans, we still have the forces, Prime's the reason they haven't happened.~

~Because he wouldn't force the genocide,~ Starscream said, smugly. ~ See? Weak.~

Jazz shrugged. ~If it makes you feel better about yourself that you constantly lost to a weak leader, it doesn't matter to me. But then, I don't care if you're stuck in stasis until after the war's over and there are resources available to socialize you either. I only care about one thing: is it safe to let you out of that cage.~

~Yes,~ Starscream said, then paused. ~Prowl had a lover?~

~That's my call, and yes, he's had one for most of the war. Not that it matters anymore, thanks to you,~ Jazz said. ~Even if Red could get over the spark bond to Sounders, you can't be a lover to someone without interface protocols.~

Starscream's wings twitched and Jazz thought he saw a flash of guilt behind the more obvious shock, before the arrogance came back, with the anger and shame and hatred woven all through. ~Weak,~ he said.

~So show me the moment that weakling became your leader,~ Jazz insisted.

Starscream cringed, but nodded, as he remembered the humiliation of having to eat his words and look away as the battle of wills was lost. It was a familiar feeling. 

Before Jazz could go back and force it to replay, he caught the next bit, when Prowl hadn't forced himself on Starscream while Megatron watched and laughed. It had happened later, but that he'd been spared in that moment ... had meant something to the Seeker.

~Focus there,~ Jazz insisted as he began to work over Starscream's frame just as he had Prowl's and Soundwave's. It was a cruel thing to do, to force what was a good memory to be shredded like this, but after all he'd seen of events from Prowl's side and Starscream's, he hated the Seeker enough to want to ruin it and the thread of loyalty it had created. Whether Prime listened to him or not about how trustworthy the Seeker was, he was going to make Starscream pay for being as self-absorbed as he was.

* * *

Jazz lay sprawled across the Prime's large desk when Optimus entered for the orn. He grinned at his commander, a look that very few could tell was not only false, but was covering for terrible truths that Jazz could not unknow. "So, ya going ta listen ta me, or ya just want my all clear that they aren't an active threat?"

Optimus tilted his head. "I will listen to you," he said, crossing around to sit down near Jazz's helm.

The low snort spoke volumes about how little Jazz really believed it, but he spoke anyway. "Prowl's Prowl. Only thing that's changed for him is how badly he wants the war to end, and thus how much he's willing to compromise his original oath to see the important parts through. Soundwave's likely the most loyal of the lot, so long as Prowl doesn't counter it. Starscream," he shrugged. "Same hate filled, without redemption backstabber he's been for ages. Nothing there that's safe to let walk free. He'll do and say anything to get what he thinks he wants and doesn't care about the consequences."

Optimus nodded. "Then keep him disarmed and under guard. I will not have him confined. It seems this would appear to be our best opportunity to take down the Decepticons."

"And are you actually ready to accept what that means?" Jazz regarded him skeptically.

"It can be done without slaughter," Optimus said with a low growl from his engines.

"No, it can't be," Jazz said simply. "If it were possible, it would have been done ages ago. You remember Prowl's oath to you, right?"

"Of course," Optimus's look demanded an explanation.

A sigh escaped Jazz. "He swore he would fight for you to end the war and those who commanded Praxus's destruction. There are only two mecha he's sworn to see destroyed. Other than making sure those two die, he doesn't care if the Cons are destroyed, so long as the war's over."

"Right, yes," Optimus nodded, not quite following what Jazz was saying.

"Don't you think, with that priority and your demands, if there was _any_ way to end the war without a slaughter he would have found it by now?" Jazz leveled his gaze on his Prime. " _Think_ about it. Prowl exists for one purpose: to end the war. He doesn't care if the Cons survive it or not, so long as the war stays over with. If _he_ can't come up with a plan that doesn't involve slaughter, just who can? Just what is that plan?"

"The opportunity will come," Optimus said. "Shockwave needs to be neutralized, the others need to be given an opportunity to surrender. Megatron is past hope, just like Shockwave. Without Soundwave working for him, there will be new chances."

Jazz sighed and rubbed above his visor. "And your plan to take out Shockwave and Megatron?"

"I was thinking I would discuss the matter with Prowl and the other officers," Optimus said. "Have Prowl, Soundwave, and Starscream released from their cells, and take whatever security measures you feel are appropriate so long as it does not hinder their movement while within the Ark. Assign them quarters to share." 

"About that. Your authorization is needed for quarters. We'll have to build them. Until then, Starscream has to be kept away from Prowl," Jazz said seriously. "Some bad things went down between them, and I'm not talking about the gestalt coding."

"What happened?" Optimus asked with a frown. 

Jazz shrugged. "Starscream doesn't have any concept of what consent is, and doesn't care even when it's pointed out. Prowl shut down his interface protocols completely so he didn't need to be aware of it when Starscream demanded to ride his spike. Prowl needs a room he can lock Starscream out of or he'll never recharge in his berth. Not that I expect him to anyway at this point, but even he deserves a space he can feel safe in that isn't his office."

Optimus nodded. "Of course," he murmured, optics dimming. "Leave his personal quarters assigned to him and no one else. Starscream and Soundwave can be housed together, with room for Prowl if he should want to be with them. I would like to merge with at least Soundwave and Starscream. Prowl if possible. This could be our break, Jazz." 

"You know Prowl won't refuse you. As he said to me, there's nothing in him that's new, and I happen to agree with him for once," Jazz said as he rolled gracefully to his pedes on the floor and turned to leave. "I'll arrange for the merges and quarters. It will be the break in the war. It's on you whether it's our break or the Decepticon's."

"Jazz," Optimus said quietly. 

Jazz paused and looked back over his shoulder. 

"When did I lose you?" 

"When you decided that Decepticon sparks are worth more than Autobot ones by refusing every plan to end the war. This could have been over with within a decade of Praxus. It wasn't because of you," Jazz said without heat. "Because you value your morals over the survival of our world and our race. Most are still with you because we don't have anywhere else to go. We all know the war won't end while you're still functioning. No one's been willing to act on that knowledge yet."

Optimus just nodded. "Please tell Prowl that I will see him when he is ready," he said. 


	8. The Price of Peace

Prowl walked the halls of the Ark a free mecha, though he was far from free. Bound by oaths to Praxus he had long embraced and gestalt coding he still passively rejected, dazed by the recovery from Jazz's interrogation, Prowl was only distantly aware of his surroundings on the way to the security office. As hurting, broken and dysfunctional as he felt, he had run out of excuses not to face Red Alert.

The security director had kept his distance, which led Prowl to believe that someone had told him something, but he wasn't sure who or how much. 

He was grateful, and nervous, as he pinged for admittance. Right now, he was half expecting Red Alert to refuse to see him alone. But after a long moment, the door opened, and Prowl entered to see Red Alert standing against the far wall, optics wide and almost white, a pistol in his hand, pointing at the door. 

"I--I know Jazz said that you're you and you're safe, but I just feel better like this, okay?"

"I understand, Red Alert," Prowl promised, his voice even and calm as he didn't so much as twitch other than to speak. "What do you know about my condition?"

"I..." Red Alert hesitated, glancing around. Prowl could see the telltale static flickering around his sensor horns. "I just want to know what happened."

"I was captured. Soundwave was ordered to form a spark bond, which he did, and I was gestalt-bound to Soundwave and Starscream," Prowl laid it out. "I have a datapad with the details and the cancellation of our contract to leave with you. Even if you could get past what I am now, I am of little use as a lover anymore."

Red Alert nodded, sinking back against the wall. "There is nothing we can do?" he asked. "We don't have to be lovers. I can cope with the rest."

"The war is all but over now," Prowl said calmly, evenly, his frame relaxed and passive. "If you still wish contact with me despite what has happened, I will make time for you."

"...Ah," Red Alert said. "So either way..." He glanced away, then back to Prowl. "I want to help, however I can. I'd like to be with you."

Despite how confused it left him, Prowl simply inclined his helm and doorwings in acceptance. "Then we will create a contract for it. Would doing so via comms be easier for you?"

"No," Red Alert said as his horns stopped crackling. "But I'll do it if you want. I knew this would be coming, and I've always known I'd like to hold you as much as possible near the end."

Prowl inclined his helm and worked not to let his confusion show. He knew what it was. He'd gone through all the processing and grief protocols while a captive. Red Alert was well behind him in it. Still, if Red Alert wished to hold him, if the mech _could_ , Prowl could find no objection to it. Those were good memories; gentle, friendly, soothing. It would be such a nice way to spend his remaining orns. "I have time to write our new contract now, if you do."

Red Alert set the pistol aside and let out a heavy x-vent. "Yes, I ... I knew if you still wanted to end when it was over ... that you would be yourself. Jazz said ... you didn't remember me?"

"While I was a prisoner," Prowl said as he took a careful step forward and reached out with his field. "It was to protect us both. You wouldn't be a target and you could not be used against me if they didn't know I cared about you. I locked all those memories and much of my tactically useful knowledge away."

"Wouldn't be Prowl if you hadn't," Red Alert said with forced amusement in his voice. His field was brittle with grief as it reached back. "You were hurt?"

Prowl tried to soothe the pain he found, but the question was enough to shatter his inner composure. "More than I anticipated was possible," he admitted quietly, unwilling to meet Red Alert's gaze for a moment. "I can't ... gestalt coding demands that I take care of them, even the one I swore to destroy."

Red Alert only nodded, and straightened, and opened his arms in a silent request. It was one that Prowl understood he could decline without ill will or resentment from the security director, but he had no desire to. With trembling doorwings, he closed the distance. The door slid shut behind him and locked, but all he could focus on was the warmth of a frame he trusted, one of the only mecha he trusted personally, against his plating and under his hands.

"I'm so sorry," Red Alert whispered as they curled together, a position they both made sure no one else ever saw them in. "I should have been better, kept you safe."

"You aren't responsible for battlefields," Prowl replied quietly. "Battles are my domain. I failed to anticipate my own capture and I paid the price. It was worth it though, all of it, if it is enough to end the war."

Red Alert could only nod as he held on tightly, slowly relaxing until Prowl was holding him more than he was holding on. "I think ... I'm ready to write the contract now."

Prowl nodded and shifted so he could still hold Red Alert but they could both see the same datapad. It wasn't going to take them long. Really the only changes were to the interfacing rules, which amounted to "don't even bring it up". He felt Red Alert cringe and give a small whimper of distress for him when the reason was spelled out, but no challenge was given. Finished and signed, it was set down and they sank into simply being close.

* * *

The spark merge with Soundwave had left Optimus feeling more than slightly positive that the host could and would easily integrate into the army and society. The mech had been designed to serve, and he wanted to serve. All he needed were the new rules, which Prowl had already supplied, and Soundwave was as good as any new recruit. He also saw the full awareness of how much was to be overcome and the willingness to do so. 

That merge had ended in a pleasurable overload for them both, so painfully different from when Optimus had merged with Prowl. Without interfacing protocols to tell him the surging energy was pleasurable, Prowl's cry had been of raw pain, yet true to form, Prowl had resisted nothing. It had still left Optimus too sick to his tanks to do much more than meditate and try to center himself for several joors.

Jazz poked his helm into Optimus's office and gave the Prime an assessing look. "He's ready, boss."

Optimus nodded and stood, following Jazz out. He'd chosen to perform the merges in his own quarters, and Starscream would be waiting there now. He hoped the Seeker would be as well off as Soundwave, and suspected he'd be as bad as Prowl. With heavy flight power, they would be able to do more against Megatron. With Starscream's history of conflicting treachery and loyalty... he was less sure. 

"Starscream," he said, announcing himself as he walked in. The Seeker glared sullenly back from across the room where he was restrained with his hands locked behind his back, sitting on the berth. "You've been told what I want?" he asked as Jazz made himself comfortable, and ready to launch, near the Seeker.

White wings lifted in a shrug. "Yes. So get it over with." 

The internal sigh never made it into any outward expression as Optimus's fears were confirmed. He centered himself and knelt on the berth, using only the lightest pressure to guide Starscream to his back. "Open."

Starscream huffed and complied with the order, turning his head away as his rich golden spark was exposed. When he heard the Prime's armor part, he couldn't resist looking though, and his optics locked on the brilliant glow of a pure white core surrounded by ribbons of every color. The Matrix be damned, that spark was the prize.

It was oh so powerful, and Starscream shivered at the teek of it unhindered by any armor between them. Calm, so calm. How could Prime be calm?

Then the first tendril of Prime's spark reached out to stroke Starscream's and the Seeker gasped at the way it warmed him. It felt nothing like any merge he'd been in before, forced and hurried affairs just to say they had. 

~What are you?~ he gasped, the only thing he could think of.

~Optimus Prime,~ the response was smooth, warm, welcoming, caring and without judgment. It was everything Starscream wasn't, and the Seeker felt ... _whole_. ~Show me your loyalty.~

 _Strength_ answered, with flashing images of Megatron and then Prowl, mixed in with a sense of longing. He would _fight_ for someone who could lead.

Optimus answered with the strength of his spark, asking nothing but for Starscream to decide if he was strong enough.

 _Yes._

Starscream would fight for him, and against him if he needed to, push him until he was at his strongest, challenge every doubt and force him to question and defend every action. He would push this leader to his peak, and then lift him further. 

_This_ was the spark he'd longed to follow for so long. 

~What do you desire after the war?~ Optimus asked, his spark pressing for real goals, sane goals, that Starscream could actually have.

~Glory,~ Starscream said with a smirk, before it faded. ~I want what Megatron once dreamed of.~

~That is my dream as well,~ Optimus's spark pulsed between them. ~What would you pursue with that freedom?~

~I've forgotten,~ Starscream said. ~All I have left is hate. I would do everything in my power to make Megatron suffer. If I didn't have that ... I don't know.~

Sadness at the loss swirled between them before a thought-image pressed against Starscream's spark. ~What of the glory of lighting Cybertron again?~

~ _Yes._ And for everyone to know my designation.~

~If you light Cybertron again, no one will ever forget your designation. You will be remembered as a hero,~ Optimus didn't doubt the statement, and couldn't grasp any reason it wouldn't be true. ~You know so much that has been forgotten. Prowl told me of the energon generators. Without hunger there would be little reason for conflict. It could end the war.~

~Prowl has other plans for that,~ Starscream couldn't help the sneer, even if there was no real emotion behind it. ~You know he's going to kill. You know he has to. No amount of energon will stop Megatron's need. He has to die.~

~You've known him longer and better than I have, but I did know him,~ Optimus said sadly. ~He was better than this. I want to still believe--~

Starscream snorted. ~You're delusional. Some mecha can only be redeemed in death.~

~What has he done?~ Optimus asked, pushing a little into the Seeker's spark. ~You were once his most loyal officer, why did that change?~

 ** _Betrayal_** surged forward with memories of specific events an afterthought. Only much later did the non-interfacing issues come up, and those focused on both violence and Megatron's refusal of genuinely good ideas.

~I will always listen to those around me,~ Optimus promised him. ~My greatest strength comes from my Autobots.~

~Megatron said that too,~ Starscream resisted trusting, even though spark to spark he couldn't hide that he wanted to.

~I won't demand it of you,~ Optimus said, starting to shudder. Starscream was _bright._ He wanted to earn this loyalty. ~When you are ready.~

~When you earn it,~ Starscream replied, far less resistant to the strength against and inside his spark. His frame was built for speed and he ran as hot as any Seeker. Just holding out this long was testament more to Prime's will than his own, and now he lost coherency with a screech of bliss.

The bigger frame rumbled over him and finally their sparks parted and the Prime drew back, panting. "Jazz will insist you are guarded, but you will not be caged while you are here, so long as you give no reason for it."

"I won't ... intentionally," Starscream said, still rather dazed as their armor closed. He hadn't felt this good in so long, and his processors jumped to what Jazz had said about the Prime's spike. How big and wonderful it was. It sent a surge of heat and _want_ through him as he spread his legs, curling them up a bit on reflex to that thought and his position.

"Starscream..." The Prime looked surprised. "Tell me about what happened with Prowl. In your own words."

"What happened with him?" Starscream was jerked towards reality by the question he couldn't follow. "Buckethead ordered us gestalt bonded. He won leadership. I'm here."

Optimus nodded. What he'd seen in Starscream's spark... Turning him down now might lose him any chance of closing the wounds that tore down into the center. Encouraging him could push Prowl further away. 

He sat up and drew Starscream with him, then reached around behind and undid the cuffs. "Jazz, you are dismissed," he said.

The black and white scowled, but left without a sound.

"He wanted to watch," Starscream purred, rubbing his interface array against Prime's as he brought his arms around to the big grounder's shoulders.

But Optimus just gently took his hands and removed them from his frame, looking into Starscream's optics. "Why do you want this?"

Shame overtook everything in Starscream and he froze, looking away without even trying to form an answer.

"No, no, shh," Optimus said, and reached out to draw the dark face back around to him. "I need to know that _you_ want this, that you don't feel like you're supposed to. I don't think this has been healthy for you in a long time, and I want to change that."

"You sound like Prowl, then he couldn't even be bothered to stay awake for it," Starscream hissed bitterly. He tried to say he wanted it, tried to say the truth, but the shame of it was too much.

"Prowl was violated and forced to do what he did," Optimus said. "It was rape. It was damaging. This is not."

Starscream just stared at him for a long moment, his field betraying how dumbfounded he was at the statement. Then the anger hit. "I _never_ forced him! I rubbed against him and he popped open, that was _his_ decision!" 

"I know, I know," Optimus soothed. "I know what happened. All three of you were violated, all by the same mech. You can ask for this, without shame, with me. With Prowl and Soundwave, there is too much code, they cannot properly consent, but I can."

"Jazz already warned me off Prowl. I get it. Don't touch the Praxian," Starscream huffed, trying to distract himself from the more personal question. He rubbed their covers together again, hoping Prime would take the hint.

"Do you want this?" Optimus asked.

Starscream gave him a scowl, but nodded through the burning shame and rocked his hips again.

"It's alright to want it," Optimus said with a low rumble, and unlocked his spike cover. "It's good to want it."

"It's weak," Starscream countered, but his valve cover slid open with a surge of _want_ in his field and wings. He pushed on Optimus's shoulders, not actually expecting the big mech to go back.

"You have the power right now," Optimus murmured as he extended himself. "You could damage me right now if you wanted. You could close your panel and refuse me."

"Shut up and spike me," Starscream growled at him.

"All right," Optimus said with a chuckle, and lined himself up with the Seeker, then thrust up. 

Starscream shuddered at the fullness spreading him wide and deep with a long moan. His claws dug into thick shoulder armor as his helm fell back, his entire being soaking in the incredible power of the mech deep inside him.

"That's good," Optimus rumbled as he rolled his hips. "You look good." He held Starscream's waist, soaking in the bliss coming off that field. "It feels amazing inside you."

A shudder that had nothing to do with physical pleasure rolled through Starscream as he lapped up the praise. How long had it been since he'd been complimented, told he was beautiful and good?

"And you've been upgraded," Optimus continued with a soft moan. His grip around Starscream tightened, even his field shivered when the Seeker's valve rippled around him. " _So_ good."

"Best you've ever had. Best you'll ever have," Starscream gasped out as he moved with grinding rolls against his array. It felt so good, the slide of the thick, long spike inside him, the fine calipers and sensors, one of his first purchases as an older mechling. He knew they made it better for the mech inside him too.

"Quite possible," Optimus said, before his arms wrapped around Starscream and he thrust up with a roar, overloading. It was fast, and he knew it, but he wanted to overload first, before Starscream was close. He felt how it startled Starscream, and the anger that surged through the Seeker.

"That--" Starscream's angry tone was cut off when the next thrust drove into him.

"That?" Optimus asked, shifting back to sit on his pedes and lifting Starscream up in his arms to rock on his spike. 

"Better not be it," Starscream shivered at the attention to his pleasure as his charge built. He let himself be lost in it, the fantasy and how hot it made him. Without thinking, he tipped back, trying to draw Optimus down on top of him. Optimus followed with a pleased growl and slammed forward, pushing Starscream's thighs open with his own. 

The Seeker keened his pleasure and spread himself wider as he drove his hips upward into each thrust. "Yes, harder."

"Feels good," Optimus groaned, hunching forward as he lost himself to it, let the charge race through his lines and pool on the surface, the fastest way to overload that he knew. With as much as Starscream liked what he was doing, it was easy to soak up the charge, an emotional high more than anything else.

Under him Starscream trembled and keened, wings rubbing against the berth with every driving thrust until he screamed and arched in his overload. Optimus let it drag him over the edge as he pumped inside, and then didn't stop. He didn't break rhythm or slow, just clutched Starscream close and pounded forward. Shock rippled from the Seeker for a brief moment, and then Starscream was lost again, willing and pliant to the powerful mech over him, driving into him, being everything Starscream ever fantasized about in a lover, and the Prime just didn't stop. Starscream could only hold on and ride the overloads, until he was a strutless, quivering puddle on the berth. 

He was dimly aware of the Prime drawing back, and he was suddenly intensely aware of himself, all splayed out, dripping with evidence, limp from the pleasure. 

Disgusting, he was _disgusting._

Then he felt the Prime move off of him and he was prepared to bolt, when hands gripped his thighs and the blue helm ducked down between his legs. He cycled his optics, focusing and refocusing as he tried to decipher just what was happening. The first slide of a glossa across his over-sensitized platelets drew a trembling moan, his frame sure it couldn't take any more but eager for it at the same time.

But ... willingly giving oral? What was with these Autobots?

Optimus hummed and it sent the vibrations straight through him and he grabbed at the padding, gasping. He wasn't sure if he could even still overload at this point, but pit it felt good. 

"You taste good," Optimus murmured after a few kliks, in between licks, mouth pressed right against him. 

"How ... can you _say_ that?" Starscream moaned. He didn't want it to stop, but he hated not understanding even more.

"Because it's true," Optimus said. 

"Why are you doing this?" 

Optimus lifted his optics up. "It's the least I can do after you let me find relief inside you."

Starscream scowled, but fell silent except for the soft moans from the renewing attention. He knew an excuse when he heard it, he'd given enough of them, but if the Prime was going to do this, let him feel okay about it ... he could get used to it very quickly.

* * *

Prowl was first in the conference room, as usual, but no matter how hard he tried he couldn't keep his agitation from showing to those who knew him well. It earned him a long study from Jazz, the concerned focus of Ratchet, but the most notable thing was that Red Alert was not only there, but had commandeered Ratchet's seat so he could be next to Prowl and that they were touching. It was only Red Alert's hand on Prowl's forearm, which rested on the table, but it was more of a PDA than they'd shown for the entirety of the war.

"So what's up?" Jazz asked once Prime arrived and sat with them, nodding not-so-subtly at the hand. 

"There is no need to conceal it anymore," Prowl responded simply. "The war will end."

"How?" Optimus asked with a deep frown.

Prowl set a datapad on the table and locked optics with the Prime. "By obliterating the major Decepticon facilities and a coordinated hunt and destroy tactic for the rest."

Optimus held his hand out for the datapad and read it quickly, then passed it to his right for Jazz to start on. "What considerations will you take to avoid excessive and unnecessary death?"

"I'm not planning to blow up either planet," Prowl said flatly.

Optimus's gaze narrowed, but he didn't say anything. 

"How're we feeling about Soundwave and Starscream?" Ratchet asked, looking around. "They're loyal?" 

"They're loyal ta Prowl," Jazz said. 

"I trust them both to obey Autobot command," Optimus said. "Or at least not disobey or sabotage." 

"So weird," Ratchet muttered.

"Peace will be weird, Ratchet," Prowl spoke with a dark tone laced with grief. "No one remembers what that means." He glanced around before settling on Optimus. "What will become of the frontliners, those who can no longer function in a peace time society?"

"They will be monitored," Optimus said. "If we can, we will find occupations for them. Therapy will be available, and more extreme options will be discussed as they become necessary."

Prowl gave a small doorwing flick of acceptance and left it at that.

"We don't have the resources to build all this," Jazz pointed out as he finished reading. "Weapons like this haven't existed since early in the war."

"They exist, I know where they are and how to operate them," Prowl focused on Jazz. "The only weapon to build is the one to take out the Nemesis. Nothing currently existing has that small a blast radius."

"If you know where they are, why haven't we heard about them?" Optimus asked.

"Because you refused the plans to use them," Prowl gave a slight shrug. "I'm not going to give them up until I know they will be used."

"So you submitted plans while withholding information," Jazz said with a frown.

"Yes," Prowl answered, unashamed of it. "Not that anyone asked about the resources needed," he added bitterly. "It wasn't even read past the primary goal."

"Your primary goal was annihilation," Prime said with a low rumble. 

"Of the Decepticons," Prowl pointed out with a matching rumble and angrily flared doorwings. "If you'd accepted the plan when I'd originally presented it, the casualty rate for the war would have been a fraction of what is already is. If you'd bothered to read my full report in the plan, you would have known that. War brings casualties, Prime. Ending the war brings many more. The point is to end the war with the fewest overall casualties as possible. You've never been able to accept what that actually means when diplomacy failed. I _will_ end the war now, with or without your blessing."

"It's no good arguing about it," Jazz said sharply, noting the absolute stillness in the other officers. "All right? We have this now. We're going against the facilities. That's it." 

Optimus nodded once. 

Prowl settled. "Then the plan is accepted?"

Optimus stared at him, hard, for a long moment. " _Every effort_ will be taken to prevent unnecessary death. That is an order, Prowl." 

"Understood, Prime," Prowl accepted the stricture without contest.

"So let's get the nitty gritty," Jazz said, leaning forward eagerly. "Can I have a metacycle to clear out my agents? Some are in way deep."

Prowl scowled, highly displeased, but after a long, intense stare as his tac-net ran all the variables, he nodded. "I will train those coming on how to activate and target the missiles. I will need three volunteers for it," Prowl began.

"There are eight targets," Jazz broke in.

"Myself, Soundwave, Starscream, Rumble and Frenzy will launch the other four."

"I don't like Screamer doin' any of it," Jazz said, frowning at Prowl.

"Why?" Prowl asked evenly.

"He's in everything for himself," Jazz said. "I mean, he's good for basic orders, but _this?_ This is sending him against a target that knows him, someone he's got a history with. Listenin' ta ya in the Ark is one thing, firing at a former comrade is another."

"Firing at a mech he hates with a passion is not high risk. If he doesn't, Ravage will," Prowl actually shrugged. "This is his chance to prove he's willing to do what it takes to end the war."

"Yeah, all right," Jazz said. "Fair enough. How bad would it be if Screamer bit the dust, y'know, for Soundwave and you?"

"For me, nothing. For Soundwave, a broken spark bond at a minimum," Prowl answered honestly. "As our primary chance to bring any Seekers left to heel, it would be unfortunate."

"I will discuss it with him," Optimus said. "We could use the flight power."

"Skywarp in particular," Prowl agreed. "Who will I be training in the missile launch systems?"

"Take me and Mirage," Jazz said, then tilted his head in consideration. "And 'Hide." He nodded to the weapons specialist. "He'd be good for it." 

Ironhide nodded back with a low grunt and they covered the rest of the plan, such as it was. For a Prowl plan, it was disturbingly light on details, and yet no one could pick out just what he might have left out. It was blunt, brutal and to the point. More like something Ironhide or Sunstreaker would create. Yet it would work if it was pulled off, and no one doubted that it would be. 

* * *

In five orns, Soundwave had yet to see Prowl enter the gestalt's quarters, or even his own. In fact, other than quick forays to the rec room and two officer's meetings, Prowl hadn't left the security office except to go with Red Alert to the SIC's office or back. If Red Alert was on duty, Prowl was with him in the security office. When Red Alert wasn't on duty, they holed up in the SIC's office. He only knew Prowl recharged because the barrier on Prowl's side of the spark bond thinned when he wasn't conscious to focus on it. They were always in the SIC's office when Prowl recharged.

The feelings from the bond were of fondness, safety, calm. Red Alert made Prowl feel good, even without interfacing involved.

That was good. Soundwave wanted Prowl happy. He needed Prowl happy in order to create any kind of life for himself once everything was through. They had been forced into this, but he was certain they could all work together to make something work. 

It might be a good idea to integrate himself somewhat into Prowl's life here. He sent a non-urgent, personal ping, questioning if he could join Prowl.

Prowl pinged back that he would be finished with the high-security material in two breems and Soundwave could join him in the office then.

Soundwave pinged back and spent the next breem and a half gathering his cassettes up and making sure they were behaving and accounted for, before leaving them locked in the gestalt quarters. He had no idea where Starscream was, and wasn't inclined to push to find out. He arrived at the SIC's office exactly when indicated and the door opened smoothly for him. Even before he stepped in, he took in Prowl's grim calmness, and the jittery depression-grief-longing in Red Alert, who was all but draped across Prowl's back with his chin on the Praxian's shoulder.

"How can I help you?" Prowl asked by rote as he looked up at the gestalt mate he honestly didn't mind, and felt he understood.

"Soundwave ... thought he would see how Prowl felt about spending some non-intimate physical time together," the host said. "In other words ... cuddle."

Prowl hummed and he tipped his helm up to look at Red Alert, giving his lover the call.

"It's alright with me," Red Alert said quietly. "Prowl hasn't said anything bad about you."

Soundwave had to admit surprise at that, at least to himself. "Soundwave: thanks you both," he said honestly as he picked up a chair and set it to the side of Prowl behind the desk. "Prowl: works past shift end?"

"Always," Prowl answered as he allowed the closeness. It wasn't a welcome, certainly, but it was also not rejection.

"Prowl: recharges in here?" Soundwave asked curiously.

"Affirmative," Prowl answered with a motion towards the back wall and mental image of the simple berth that folded out from the wall and a sense that it was something he'd done for much of the war as a measure against assassination and because he often worked to the point where walking to his quarters and the softer berth wasn't worth the effort. "This room is far more secure than my quarters."

"Very logical," Soundwave said, pleased. "Has Prowl: had a chance to drive recently?"

"No. I've been working on post-war plans. Reconstruction will be difficult," Prowl explained.

"You don't really go out anyway, not even when the other two do," Red Alert murmured, not quite chastising him, but well aware it wasn't right.

"They aren't my kind," Prowl sighed, an explanation he was tired of not being understood.

"They?" Soundwave questioned, flipping through the options and finally deciding on two, pressing their image forward. Nearly identical to Prowl in basic frame type, mostly told apart by paint schemes.

Prowl nodded. "Bluestreak and Smokescreen. Praxian, not Enforcer. Our coding's radically different."

Soundwave thought it over for a few moments. "This: is the reason you cannot race with them?"

Prowl shifted his focus to the host. "In the end, yes," he decided. "They don't understand what racing ... chasing ... does to an Enforcer. It's not safe for them, and I'm of an importance that I can not afford the charges or the scandal."

"The other two Lamborghini models?" Soundwave questioned, flashes of red and yellow going through his mind.

Prowl sighed and lowered his helm to rub the shield of his chevron, his processors filled with just how primitive the coding involved was and that he was completely disconnected with a large chunk of it now. "Not Enforcers. When we race, we chase to capture. When the coding was imported, they had to change the cyber-wolf's kill-directive to something less destructive. The easiest shift for them was to change it from killing to interfacing. When I race, it's to catch and spike my prey senseless. We don't on duty because of other coding, but racing...."

"It is very intense," Red Alert added. "I've helped him wind down from chasing criminals."

"Oh," Soundwave said, tilting his head. "Soundwave: wishes he could help with this," he said, truly regretful that he could not help his gestalt mate.

"It is no longer relevant," Prowl attempted to reassure him. "Without active interfacing protocols, the need is also gone."

"Without that diversion, you'll also try to kill anything you end up chasing," Red Alert sighed, his fingers and armor twitching in his unease. "It's not good for you to have them off for so long."

Prowl looked over his shoulder at his long-time lover, a being that was in truth his mate, and tried to smile to reassure him. "Love, in a metacycle it will not longer be relevant. If I kill on the battlefield, it is expected. I won't be chasing anyone else."

"Not even the twins?" Red Alert frowned.

"I have more important duties than chasing down miscreants that I know will come back to their quarters within few joors," Prowl pointed out gently as he lifted a hand to soothe Red Alert's twitching fingers. "There is still much to do."

"Why: won't it be relevant?" Soundwave asked with a deep frown through his field. 

Red Alert glanced between Prowl and Soundwave uneasily.

"I told him. He just doesn't believe yet," Prowl told Red Alert before looking at Soundwave. "Because when the war ends I will extinguish."

Soundwave huffed. "Soundwave: believes that we could all work together and find a satisfactory life in rebuilding. Prowl: must see this. Prowl: must realize what his deactivation will do to me."

Prowl was still for a long moment. His processors were clear that he knew what would happen. There to was an openness about the intensity of self-loathing - _traitor_ \- that was held in check only by his mission. The intensity of his weariness at continuing past his function, past his city and people and purpose for so long. The fragile hope that in deactivation, in submitting to the law he had been created to enforce, he might be forgiven his crimes.

"Stop that!" Red Alert snarled as he jerked away in almost physical pain.

"He needs to understand what he's asking of me," Prowl said, never taking his optics from Soundwave's. "I need to understand why he outlived his function. He was dismissed."

Red Alert gasped at that, shocked and reeling that a purpose built pre-programmed mecha even could exist after being dismissed.

A low whine emitted from Soundwave's engine as he looked at his gestalt leader, then bowed his head. "Soundwave: understands," he murmured. "Soundwave ... is selfish. Soundwave: wants to protect his cassettes. That: is why Soundwave survived. For them."

"I regret you will be hurt by my crimes," Prowl's voice was soft, the emotion genuine. "Seek out someone to help you through it. There are mecha here that would take you in if you seek them out."

Soundwave sighed, then imagined the pull-out berth with a question in his mind as he pressed the image-question towards Prowl.

There was a brief hesitation, his duties and work a strong pull on him now that he had it back, but Prowl nodded and stood to offer a hand to each of them. "Soundwave needs to snuggle," he explained to Red Alert.

Somewhat to Soundwave's surprise, there was no resentment, no irritation, no thoughts of him being weak or needy. Red Alert understood completely and was grateful for the snuggle time, and Prowl simply accepted.

"Thank you," Soundwave said as he followed, truly grateful to be allowed the time to settle in with the idea of what was to happen. 

Prowl would end the war. That was the most important part.

The berth folded down at a ping from Prowl and Red Alert climbed in first to press against the wall, then Prowl laid down next to him and extended a hand to Soundwave to join them. The host accepted and lay down next to the smaller Autobots. He didn't fully fit lengthwise on the berth, though width-wise it seemed suited to hold at least five Autobots and took up most of that wall and nearly all of the floor space. 

"You should recharge," Red Alert murmured, nuzzling the back of Prowl's neck.

Soundwave caught a half-thought from Prowl that it was so the other two could talk, a thought that even in the insanely over-active and chaotic processors of Red Alert was confirmed.

Prowl nodded and settled on the soft padding between them with a small sound of hydraulics sinking into standby, then the quieter sounds of other systems settling. Soon Prowl's processors shut down for a defrag he no doubt still badly needed.

Soundwave felt the settling across the bond and curled a bit around his gestalt mate, stroking his helm. "Red Alert: cares for Prowl."

"A great deal," Red Alert admitted as he rested a hand over Prowl's spark. "He's the only mecha who's ever been able to talk me out of a glitch. I can whisper logical reasons for insanity to keep his at bay."

"Soundwave: is sorry for what happened to him," the host said. "As illogical: as that is. A paradox: had Soundwave not violated Prowl, Soundwave would not care for him."

"And the war wouldn't be ending, he wouldn't be about to extinguish, and you wouldn't be facing a broken spark bond," Red Alert said quietly. "Much as I want to hate you for the first two, your price is higher than it should be for following orders. I can't hate you for doing what you were coded to do."

Soundwave brushed Red Alert's mind with gratitude. "Red Alert: knows Prowl better than Soundwave. Would there be any kindness: in helping Prowl survive?"

Red Alert shook his helm, already grieving the coming loss. "It would be a cruelty. He believes he is a traitor to his function and it kills part of him every time he remembers that. As much as I want to have him longer, there is no kindness to it." His fingers slowly stroked Prowl's chest plates as the pain bubbled up. "Together we could probably guilt him into surviving, but the price ... it would come at such a high price for him and us."

"My cassettes," Soundwave said sadly. "If I deactivate, so will they. It is possible: that the strain could even take them and not me. Soundwave: would gladly live with that guilt and feel no remorse for another's pain if it meant their survival. Finding an Autobot who would make the needed sacrifice to help: will be nearly impossible."

Red Alert chuckled softly, the amusement in his processors edged with sadness that Soundwave believed that. "You're underestimating both your value and our Prime. Half a dozen Autobots on Earth would gladly give you whatever you needed for your loyalty, including a spark bond. Prime would give it just because he believes it's the right thing to do. Jazz, Mirage and Ratchet I know would because of how valuable you'd be to them. I expect Blaster would too, unless there's some host thing I don't know about. I would, but I don't know if I'd be in any condition to help anyone right then."

"But Soundwave: was the sworn enemy and hard coded to Megatron," the host said, trying to wrap his processors around the idea of an Autobot being willing to touch his spark, and more than that, being _allowed_ to.

Red Alert shrugged. "Prime cleared you. Jazz cleared you. Prowl vouches for you. I'm not saying that everybody will forgive you, but you're far from the first defector who's been taken in and accepted. Even on such short notice ... look, you're a _telepath_. One of only two I know of. That's invaluable to some of us who understand what your coding means."

"Soundwave: will think about that," the host said. "Thank you, Red Alert. Does Red Alert: have anyone to help him?"

"Just my coding. Ratchet knows I'm likely to glitch during my processing time. I've got a secure room in medbay so I don't hurt anyone until I'm stable again," he sighed. "It'll be over in an orn."

Soundwave nodded in understanding. Their kind were given a predetermined grieving time during which to process any personal losses. Red Alert's was short, but not uncommonly so. It was incredibly hard on the spark, but commissioners never cared about that; they were easy to replace. "How: will he end things?"

Red Alert twitched unhappily. "Do you know how traitors were executed in Praxus?"

"Negative," Soundwave said quietly, his tanks churning. No matter the city, that fate was an unpleasant one.

"Acid. Eaten away from the inside out," Red Alert tried not to retch at the thought of it happening to Prowl. "He's agreed to shift the order for my sake and have his spark second rather than last. It's also going to be in private, rather than a public spectacle."

"The processors: first," Soundwave said without doubt. "Does Red Alert know: details of when? Soundwave and Starscream: will need to be prepared."

"Tac-net first," Red Alert correct. "He needs to be sure it's not recovered, that it's never used again. He'll end it during the victory celebration."

"Thank you," Soundwave said, feeling his cassettes reach out to him in comfort. Knowns, even bad knowns, were easier to deal with and plan for than unknowns.

Red Alert nodded slightly. "Who do you think you'll approach?"

"Perhaps Jazz or Mirage," Soundwave said. "If Blaster were not a host: Soundwave would choose him. Host sparks: are less centered and anchored once they create their symbiots. Ratchet: can be prevailed upon as a medic if it becomes necessary."

"You'll have a function and purpose with any of them," Red Alert assured him even as he was focused on Prowl's recharging form. "A good existence."

"Prowl: cares for Red Alert," Soundwave murmured as he followed Red Alert's gaze. He wouldn't have his gestalt leader, but he could take care of his gestalt leader's mate after he was gone.

"I know," Red Alert smiled sadly. "We've been a sanctuary for each other for a long time. Most of the war. There aren't many pre-programmed mecha of our type left. It was a relief to have someone who _knew_. It was for him too, not to have to explain. I wasn't Enforcer, but I understood our coding. Did you have anyone?"

"My symbiots," Soundwave said. "The first three: were programmed much like me. The last two: were somewhat less restricted, but understood."

"I'm guessing Rumble and Frenzy were the last two," Red Alert chuckled.

"Affirmative."

"Why did you program them differently?"

"In order to more effectively communicate in situations where I felt restricted," Soundwave said with a quiet chuckle. "Additionally: to better accommodate the pieces of my spark I wanted to give them. Early in the war, to better serve and dedicate myself to Megatron." 

Red Alert gave an understanding hum. "I think all of us, survivors at least, have part of their spark like them. Even Prowl. He's a good mech, no matter what he thinks of himself. Even now he's working on plans for the reconstruction, even though he won't be there."

Soundwave looked at his leader sadly. "Is there any authority: who might pardon him, that he would accept it?"

"Prime could, but Prowl lost respect for him long ago. I don't know that he'd care if Prime pardoned or not," Red Alert murmured sadly. "Anyone else who could, the Lord of Law of Praxus, Lord of Praxus or Praxus herself, they're all long gone. It's hard to get good answers when he's convinced himself that deactivation will be a reward, a relief. I understand too, even if I don't agree. He's so tired. So very tired of so many things."

Soundwave sighed. "As is his right," he said. "At least: he sees an escape. So many fear deactivation too badly for escape."

"That I've never understood," Red Alert stroked Prowl's chest lightly. "Primus is kind, even if his creations are not always so."

"Indeed," Soundwave said, and put his hand over Red Alert's. 


	9. Paying the Price

Prowl settled with a soft sound of contented pleasure as Red Alert fussed over the new paintjob. Sunstreaker did excellent work, especially when paid well for it, and had asked remarkably few questions about why Prowl was going back to the exact look he'd had in Praxus. The artist hadn't even commented on the lack of an Autobot insignia when he'd left.

"Sunstreaker: knows Prowl's intentions," Soundwave supplied when the three were alone in Prowl's quarters. That the demon twin hadn't said anything struck him as extremely strange, especially considering how much respect he'd felt for Prowl. 

"I'm not surprised," Red Alert murmured, pressing a kiss to Prowl's doorwing after he finished tracing the pattern.

"It's not exactly a secret, just not one that's spoken of," Prowl agreed. He felt a tiny twitch of anticipatory excitement. "Turn on the security camera."

Red Alert sighed and reluctantly stood back. "Recording now."

"Good," Prowl's voice went quiet as he unlocked his armor and commanded his chest to open and the armor to slide down to expose part of his tac-net. He picked up the first of many acid pellets with an attached device to break it open, linked it to his processors for control and inserted it directly above one of the primary memory cores. His reparation picked up slightly, though not in fear. It was pain, raw and primal from compliance code that was unhappy with his actions.

Soundwave brushed through his mind, doing what he could to settle and mute that code. As they'd decided on before, during one of Prowl's few recharges, he was extending his mind to mute Red Alert's distress from Prowl. It was straining, given his own distress, but they managed it. Here and there Soundwave heard Prowl's thanks and the regret he felt for hurting them both. It wasn't enough to stop the careful placement of acid pellets, or his intent to use them, but it still felt nice to know that Prowl was aware of the hurt he was causing and did not find it trivial.

It was nearly a joor before Prowl was done and closed his armor once more with a satisfied sigh and a burst of nervous energy. It was almost time. Red Alert pulled him close and held on tightly, pressing their forehelms together. Even Soundwave couldn't mask the grief at that point, but he also felt the security director's joy for his mate's choice and the freedom he would soon find. He magnified that for Prowl and they all sank into the combined joy-calmness that a long sought-after goal was at hand.

"Go. Join the party. I'll be there shortly," Prowl instructed calmly, relaxed but wanting a moment to himself to be completely without the fields or minds of others tangled with his.

Soundwave nodded and drew away, pausing for a moment to let Red Alert press a lingering kiss to Prowl's mouth before he followed. Red Alert's grip on reality was wavering, like he couldn't really believe what was happening. He was stable enough to make it through the party, but once Prowl's spark guttered, he would break. Ratchet was ready for him though, they'd planned it out knowing Red Alert wouldn't manage without a severe glitch, so Soundwave only had to be sure the medic was aware of the timing.

"Who did you chose?" Red Alert asked as they walked through empty halls, the party outside easily audible to them both.

"Mirage," Soundwave murmured. "He: is more neutral than Jazz. Less emotional. But still understands Soundwave's value. His spark: is bright."

"A noble. It would be," Red Alert nodded, though his mind was full of how stressful it was to have an invisible mecha on base. "He's not a bad mech, even if I can't stand him."

"Query: because of his stealth abilities?" Soundwave asked. He'd learned that some Autobots saw his telepathic abilities as evidence of treason, and avoided them when possible, even just for the practice.

"Yes," Red Alert shuddered but held himself together for the moment. "You know how hard he is to track and pick up. I have to know where everyone is and I almost never know where he is."

"Soundwave: understands that feeling," the host said with a touch of humor that earned him a shy smile and flush of warmth from Red Alert. The mech was entirely too accustomed to being written off as paranoid or worse, rather than dedicated.

~Your efforts created endless vorns of processors aches,~ Soundwave said, letting Red Alert feel just how true that was.

"Thank you," Red Alert almost hummed with pleasure at the compliment as they walked out into the open under the Ark's engines. "I wish I'd be in a position to help you."

"Soundwave: will manage. He wishes much the same for Red Alert," the host said, sobering.

"I'll manage, until I can't," Red Alert gave him a small, if real smile. "Glitching takes us all, eventually."

"That: is the truth," Soundwave said somberly. "Red Alert: is ready to face the party?"

With a deep ventilation cycle and shiver to settle his armor, Red Alert nodded. "As I'll ever be. Just ... don't stray too far? I'm going to need the support."

"Soundwave: will always be close," the host promised. "He: will be there for Prowl's mate."

"Thank you," Red Alert focused on steadying himself, dimming his audial input as much as he could stand, and walked into the riot of celebrating mecha.

Off to one side, away from the most boisterous mecha, Optimus Prime stood and surveyed. He couldn't begrudge them their good mood. After all, the war was over. There would be mop up missions for a few vorns, but with every major Decepticon facility and city functionally vaporized there wasn't much point to denying it was over and the Autobots had won. Too many had perished, too many sparks lost, but at least it was over, for better or worse.

Starscream was next to him, staying close. He was neither comfortable with nor accepted by the Autobot ranks, and preferred to spend his time with Optimus. Optimus didn't mind; it kept him away from Prowl, and kept them from hurting each other further. It would take some work to help them both recover. Perhaps the best hope for that rested with Red Alert and Soundwave. The pair were devoted to Prowl, and it had been a relief to find out that Red Alert had accepted Prowl and remained with him despite all that had happened.

He focused on the antisocial pair that made an uncomfortable path around the edge of the party, greeting or being greeted. High grade was shoved into hands, but neither drank. He knew Red Alert wouldn't because of how it scrambled the already tenuous control he had over his senses. He expected Soundwave didn't for much the same reason.

Where was Prowl though? Red Alert and Soundwave had been with him when Sunstreaker left.

He smiled at Red Alert when he met the security director's gaze, but stayed where he was. If Red Alert felt like talking he would come over. Optimus didn't feel up to making his way through the crowd. 

"How long do we have to stay here?" Starscream complained. 

"I will remain for at least three more joors. I have an obligation to be seen until enough are buzzed that my departure is not noticed. You are free to leave if you wish," Optimus said easily.

Starscream shifted his weight back and forth. "Why don't you come with me?" he purred enticingly. 

"When my obligation here is done," Optimus replied firmly. Movement by the Ark's open blast doors caught his attention and he hummed happily to see his SIC emerge. As Sunstreaker had implied, he'd done as much cosmetic work as one could without a medic to look like his Enforcer self, right down to precinct and rank markings to go with the slightly different black and white pattern.

Starscream's wings lifted and focused in on him, then fluttered out and he pretended to ignore the Praxian. But even Optimus could tell he was watching him at every moment as Prowl made polite rounds, accepted and _drank_ from the cube of high grade given to him. Optimus had to hide a frown. Prowl never had high grade. It messed with his tac-net and generally made him incoherent at far lower amounts than was reasonable. Yet here he was, and he seemed to be handling it far better than usual.

It made Optimus uneasy, and even Starscream was shifting back a little. 

"Where is his Autobot insignia?" Starscream asked. "Did you decommission him?" 

"No, I didn't. He may be planning to leave," Optimus said as he attempted to discern what was up with this unusually upbeat yet tense Prowl. "Several Autobots have turned in their resignation forms."

"Softie that you are, I suppose you're letting them all go," Starscream said with a snort.

"Why wouldn't I?" Optimus's focus shifted to the Seeker with genuine confusion. "Even now this is a volunteer-only force. No one stays if they don't want to."

"You'll need them again," Starscream said with a shrug. "Especially now. Isn't going to be easy from here on out." 

"Just because they are no longer enlisted does not mean they are not available," Optimus relaxed as he realized this was another misunderstanding between how the two armies did things. "The majority of work was done by civilians and will be again."

"Hay, boss bot, can I have ya for a moment?" Jazz asked.

"Of course," Optimus said, turning so that he was at an angle to the crowd, facing Jazz, only to follow the mech several steps to where they were out of easy audial range of Starscream. "What is it?"

"Ya know Prowl's leaving us today, right?" Jazz asked quietly.

"I ... had hoped otherwise," Optimus said, his optics dimming, gaze immediately going to Starscream, who frowned back at him, wings cocked with question before he saw Prowl move calmly towards him. "With as much time as he's been spending with Red Alert and Soundwave..."

Jazz shook his helm. "They're pre-progs with high compliance coding. Got nothing in common with how anyone who's free thinks, never will either. Kindest thing they could do for him, really."

Optimus nodded. "Do you know ... when, how? I know the answer, but can I do anything to help him?"

"Unless he's changed his plans, he'll execute himself as a traitor to Praxus," Jazz said quietly. "That's eaten away from the inside out by acid." 

Optimus nodded, watching Prowl sadly for a moment, and then he was watching the Seeker again. "Thank you for letting me know. I should take Starscream somewhere and help him. Does Soundwave have someone to help him? Do you know how soon?"

Jazz glanced at Prowl as his shoulder launchers unfolded. "In less than a breem," he said, and then lunged for the Prime and knocked him down as a huge explosion went off. "You can let him walk away from this," he yelled over the sudden cacophony of noise--shouting, debris, the crackling of open wires.

Optimus shoved the smaller 'Bot off and scrambled to sit up, staring at the mangled frame that moments before had been his lover. His vocalizer froze and he looked at Prowl. He couldn't speak as stared at his former SIC in disbelief, pain and building anger.

"First degree murder has been added to my crimes," Prowl said evenly. "My final duty to Praxus is done. I will see myself to my execution."

The order to halt stuck in Optimus's throat as seething anger built in his chest and the desire to _hurt_ \--something he was so unfamiliar with--took over for a bright, unseeing moment. He could order Prowl to live and that would be the greatest possible punishment. 

But it wasn't the right thing to do, and the hurting needed to stop. "Go," he forced out, engines rumbling in a deep growl. Prowl was gone as smoothly as he'd come, but he left a shocked army in his wake.

"I'm sorry ya got hurt," Jazz said from Optimus's right as the Prime tried to come to grips with what had just happened. "Tell me about the good things in Starscream?"

Optimus shook him off. "I think we have more pressing matters to discuss," he growled as he got to his pedes and looked out over his Autobots. Ratchet was already shaking his head over Starscream's remains, glancing warily at the Prime. 

"See to the frame, _with respect,_ " Optimus rumbled before raising his voice. "Return to your quarters or your recreation as you will. There will be an address in the morning. This is now a crime scene." 

The Autobots murmured, some with tones of confusion, others much darker, but all obeyed and left.

* * *

Prowl felt a strange, peaceful sensation as he walked to his quarters, now that the last commander of the attack on Praxus was gone. Even knowing what was coming, he felt almost giddy. In fact, _because_ he knew what was coming he felt almost giddy. He zeroed in on Red Alert the moment he walked through the door, finding the security director on the far side of the room from the berth, where Soundwave and Mirage were clinging together, locked in a merge. 

A low, continuous keen was coming from Soundwave as he shook, visor white and blind.

For a quiet moment, Prowl felt regret for what he had done to a relative innocent, yet that was a truth with every conviction and especially with executions. Criminals never existed in a void, so when one was punished an innocent often suffered. It was simply the truth of the matter.

He turned to Red Alert and knelt by him to draw him close while they waited out the merge.

"Praxus is avenged," Red Alert managed, a broken smile in his voice, joy for his mate in that fact.

"Yes. It is finally over," Prowl hummed, the peace and joy he felt in that truth warm in his field. He could regret the lives lost, but not the end result. "I will wait until he is stable."

Red Alert nodded as Ravage settled on his shoulders, peering at Prowl. She crooned, low in her throat, and leaned forward to nuzzle him. The rest of the cassettes, he assumed, were in Soundwave, but Ravage was using all her strength to be with him. With a soft smile Prowl reached up and stroked her as he pressed his field outward, offering calmness, strength and willing to take her pain if he could.

She purred and arched into his hand, tension draining from her field. 

"Ravage: wished to be with Prowl," came Soundwave's hoarse voice. His head was up, looking around as the merge ended and their frames closed up. "Prowl ... has finally fulfilled his duty."

"Yes," Prowl inclined his helm and continued to pet Ravage. "I will wait until you have recovered enough to take the second break. I have no wish to harm you more than I must."

"Mirage: has a strong spark," Soundwave said. "Mirage: will help Soundwave survive." The host rose to his pedes, unsteadily and with Mirage's help, and made his slow way over. His field felt weak when it finally came within teeking range and Prowl stood to greet him. One hand lifted to steady him as Soundwave knelt so they could more easily rest their forehelms together while fields merged.

"I am glad," Prowl's voice was quiet and firm. "Do you know how long it will take your spark to steady?"

"A groon," Soundwave said with a contented sigh to touch his gestalt leader one more time. 

"I have that much time," Prowl murmured. "Whatever I can do to improve your chances of surviving my deactivation I will grant you."

"Snuggle until then?" Red Alert suggested.

"Ping me when it is time," Mirage spoke before gliding out to leave the three alone.

"Soundwave: is glad Mirage was close," the host said as Red Alert pressed close to his mate. He curled around them both, resting his helm against Prowl's.

"As am I," Prowl agreed with a soft, relaxing sigh. It felt good to be so close to those he cared about and who cared about him. It felt good not to be in the brig, or in public for his execution. He knew it was a mercy more for the innocent ones with him, but that didn't mean he didn't benefit and could not be grateful for the mercy after murdering the Prime's lover.

They cuddled together in silence but for Ravage's low hum, before Soundwave roused. "Soundwave: feels stable," he murmured.

"Then ping Mirage," Prowl said with a surge of anticipation.

Despite the grief at knowing his leader was about to extinguish, Soundwave also felt something akin to pleasure that it was with his mission complete and on his own terms. Such was a rare luxury and reward for most. Prowl's pain would soon be washed away, his guilt dissolved by his execution-style suicide as per Praxian law and custom.

Mirage appeared in the door almost immediately, and gestured with his helm for Soundwave to follow. The host turned to Prowl to touch their forehelms together briefly, murmured, "May Prowl: find his peace in Primus," and stood.

"We will be merged in three kliks," Mirage said. 

"Make sure you are," Prowl said. "My spark will gutter quickly and I will only wait that long." 

Mirage inclined his helm, then both he and Soundwave were gone. 

Prowl and Red Alert moved to the center of the room where an acid absorbent pad had been placed. Prowl knelt on the middle of it, and Red Alert quickly knelt in front of him, matching his posture until their forehelms met. Prowl shifted his full focus to his mate. "I regret you will be hurt so badly for my crimes."

"I'm so happy that you'll finally be free," Red Alert managed.

There was another surge of joyful anticipation in Prowl and his doorwings gave a small flutter. "Thank you ... my love."

Red Alert felt a shaky smile cross his features before they both fell silent for the remainder of the three kliks. Though neither intended to move, Prowl couldn't stop his frame from jerking sharply when he felt the acid spill onto his spark chamber. It hurt, pain so intense he had to mute his vocalizer to stop from screaming. Red Alert had already muted his own vocalizer so that Prowl's last moments wouldn't be filled with his scream of grief, but it tore through his field all the same, grip around Prowl tightening, uncaring of any acid that might get on his frame.

Prowl's frame jerked out of his control several times before he stiffened with a surge of spark energy through his frame and into Red Alert as the strong spark that powered it burst free from its containment. It filled Red Alert with as much spark energy and sense of _Prowl_ as a deep merge and lingered even longer. A moment later the Praxian frame slumped forward as it grayed, acid pellets still bursting inside to eat away at everything that Prowl deemed corrupted by his actions.

When the last of the spark energy faded from him, Red Alert released the hold on his voice and wailed, clutching Prowl's empty frame to him. Bold, red warnings began to scroll across his HUD, he felt the beginnings of a glitch spiral. External sensors began to spark, internal readings all peaked and held. He couldn't make himself care or reach out for help as he once would have. Let the glitch take him. Existence hurt too much.

Cool hands closed in around his helm, and he was only aware of them because the field was so familiar. But they, too, soon faded into the rest of the chaos. 

And then everything faded, and nothing was left.


	10. Honoring the Dead

When Red Alert came online, he recognized the tags of a repair from a severe glitch. That wasn't a surprise. His spark felt empty, and even though the memories felt drugged and heavy, they were still intact. 

Had that been Ratchet's idea of mercy? 

His optics came online and he turned his head. Soundwave was sitting next to his berth, looming.

"Red Alert: stable?" Soundwave asked.

"I believe so," Red Alert said heavily. Ratchet had done a number on him. He wished he would have deactivated instead.

"Desire: normal. Desire: will pass. Red Alert: strong." Soundwave told him firmly.

"You really think so?" Red Alert asked as a sob started to shudder through him.

"Experience: indicates so," Soundwave hesitatingly offered to hold the heavily distraught mech despite being unfamiliar with doing so in the relative open of the monitored recovery room. "Red Alert: is a survivor. Presence here: proves that."

The security director managed a nod as he pressed against Soundwave, the closest thing he still had to Prowl left, and rode out the last of the emotions that still needed conscious processing. It took him nearly a groon, and when it was over, he was left with a dull ache. "He got the end he wanted," he said, more to remind himself of that than anything else.

"Affirmative. Prowl: worked diligently for this end. Prowl: no longer trapped in pain," Soundwave agreed without moving. He would be there for as long as Red Alert needed him.

"How is your spark?" Red Alert asked after a little while.

"Stable. Spark: regaining strength. Soundwave: will recover fully. All symbiots: healthy," he answered as he decided he rather liked having Red Alert against his chest. As difficult as it was to read his mind with the masses of sensory data there, Red Alert was agreeably predictable and as dedicated as anyone Soundwave knew. It was not as different from holding Prowl as Soundwave had expected. Both had such a strong sense of duty, law and order ... it was soothing. And, from what he could tell from the field, Red Alert liked being against his chest. 

"Did I miss anything important?" the Autobot asked.

"Negative. Many mecha: grieving. Others: quiet. Prime: still grieving. Query: why did Prime form attachment to Starscream? Prowl's intentions: seemed well known."

"Optimus is ... well, an optimist," Red Alert said with a sigh. "I don't know anything else about it, except that they spark merged a lot."

"Actions: illogical," Soundwave didn't hide the uneasy frown in his field. "Red Alert: ready to return to quarters?"

Red Alert nodded. "If Ratchet said okay. I guess he wouldn't have let me boot if it wasn't okay." 

"Ratchet: agrees to Red Alert leaving: if Red Alert rests for the rest of the orn," Soundwave relayed the CMO's orders.

"I will," Red Alert said out loud for the record. He straightened and swung his pedes off the berth. "I ... guess I don't know which quarters."

"Where: does Red Alert feel most secure?" Soundwave asked.

"...My office," Red Alert said slowly, and sadly. Prowl's office was strong in his thoughts, with the knowledge that with Prowl gone, that would never be the safe haven it had once been again.

"Red Alert: always safe with me," Soundwave said firmly as he helped the smaller mech steady himself. "Soundwave: will protect you."

"I know," Red Alert said with a small smile. "Prowl said so."

Soundwave offered an affirmative hum and guided Red Alert to the security office they were both now very familiar with. "Red Alert: wishes to work or snuggle?"

"Just snuggle for now," Red Alert said, then relaxed in the large strong arms encircling him. The berth slid out from its hiding spot in the wall and they settled down. Without either contemplating it, Soundwave placed himself between Red Alert and the door and curled around him to shield him more fully.

"Red Alert: is safe."

"Thank you," Red Alert said as he powered down into a light recharge cycle. He would need many of them in the upcoming orns to help him process and settle. Ratchet had taken him off active duty, so there were no official duties. Just rest, and grief.

* * *

Optimus Prime still felt the ache in his spark for the lives lost at the hand of his former SIC, a mech he considered a friend, no matter how much he knew Prowl would disagree with the term. It reminded him a little too much of what happened with Jazz. There was another mech he thought was a friend, but by the end of the war it was clear that Jazz hated him deeply. He was beginning to see how previous Primes had lost their way. Abandoned for their actions or beliefs, or simply for being the Prime. What had once been a close knit community had scattered as fast as they could and few wished to speak to him anymore.

Prowl ended his own spark.

Jazz went deep into the shadows along with his agents and took Soundwave and Red Alert with him.

Ratchet was back in a hospital.

Sunstreaker and Sideswipe had gone Decepticon hunting and Optimus knew they'd never come back. Cliffjumper had followed a similar path.

Hound, Trailbreaker and Seaspray were out in the universe with Cosmos, exploring and trying to recover the code and function they'd been sparked for.

Wheeljack and Bluestreak were both gone, lost to accidents that he still wasn't completely sure weren't self-inflicted. The way Bluestreak had said goodbye that morning still haunted him, even though it indicated nothing.

Only Ironhide was still close, and he could not understand Optimus's pain at those who went elsewhere.

Deep in his mulling of the past, the war, as better times, Optimus pulled up Prowl's record and froze when it came back as not existing. He quickly looked at his other command officers' files, but found them all as accurate as his memory allowed him to check. With a frown he pulled up the record of an officer's meeting and froze for a long klik when it sank in that Prowl's file hadn't been sabotaged or misplaced, but his designation legally erased.

In the place of 'Prowl' was 'Praxian Traitor 785637856' and the link only listed the crimes the mech had been supposedly convicted of. Nothing from the war, though. No crimes against mecha-kind. They were crimes of surviving his city, accepting each deactivation request of his kin even though he believed he had no right to. Only one crime came after he became an Autobot. Assassination of the Prime's lover.

Optimus simply stared. And stared.

He was still staring at it when Ironhide walked into the office. "What locked you up?" The old warrior snorted to get his attention.

"I ... Prowl's designation ... it's gone." Optimus attempted to explain, but it only drew Ironhide around the desk to read over his shoulder.

The old mech huffed. "That's what happens to traitors. They are wiped from history as best as we're able."

"I did not authorize this!" Optimus stared at him.

"Prowl probably did," Ironhide shrugged. "You know what he thought of himself as."

"I ... no. I didn't. Not like this," Optimus whispered, horrified to his core that the mech who had all but won the war was labeled a traitor because he _wanted_ to be. "This is to be undone."

Ironhide looked at him hard, and Optimus knew with a growing sickness in his spark what he was going to be told.

It didn't make it any less painful to hear it.

"Don't disrespect him like that Prime," Ironhide's voice was quiet. "He went to his end thinking clearer than he had since Praxus fell. He did this because he wanted to be forgotten. He wanted this. Give him that much, for all he did for you though the war."

"I can't leave a good mech listed as a traitor," Optimus rumbled firmly.

"Then good luck undoing that," Ironhide put a hand on his shoulder. "Leave it for the morning. It's been like that for vorns. You need to recharge to have your processors clear when you face Soundwave."

"Soundwave?"

"Yeah. He's the one keeping the locks in place," he motioned towards the screen. "You want it changed you'll have to go through him and Jazz first."

"I'll manage it," Optimus nearly growled, but he stood at Ironhide's tug.

**Author's Note:**

> Fandom: Transformers G1  
> Author: gatekat and vaevade on LJ  
> Pairing: Prowl/Soundwave/Starscream, Prowl/Red Alert  
> Rating: NC-17 for mech/mech  
> Codes: Angst, Non-con, Dub-con, Sticky, Non-con Spark bond, Non-con gestalt, Defection, Death, Betrayal, Murder, Suicide, Mass Murder, Poor Coping Mechanisms  
> Disclaimer: The authors are only playing with their own twisted muses. Transformers belong to Hasbro. Fandom-side, check the [inspirations page](http://gatekat-fics.livejournal.com/290.html) We draw from a ton of amazing stories and authors you should read.
> 
> Notes:  
> nanoklik = 1/8 second;  
> klik = 496 nanokliks/62 seconds;  
> breem = 8 kliks/8.27 minutes;  
> groon = 9 breem/1.24 hours;  
> joor = 6 groon/7.44 hours;  
> orn = 42 joor/13.02 days;  
> decaorn = 32 orns/1.14 years;
> 
> Deaths: Most Decepticons, Megatron, Starscream (murder), Prowl (suicide), Wheeljack and Bluestreak (accidents).


End file.
